Check This Out!!! Artist Michael Shapcott....Drawing A Drawing 365

I think I'm on a roll today for posting to my blog!  Another artist who inspires me is Michael Shapcott.  I've posted about him on my facebook page, but I don't think I have here on my blog.  There are no words to describe his portrait art for me.  It's that good.  Looking at his portrait paintings stirs up emotion in me every time.  He has a unique way of capturing the human spirit.  It's all in the eyes!

Anyway, he's trying to fund a project, which I just pledged a small amount to help support.  Here is the information if you wish to find out more!



And here is another video of him painting

And finally...you can learn more about Michael Shapcott and see more of his art here on his BLOG. Check it out, his work is beautiful, his blog is full of great stuff! You won't be disappointed!

Great Video on Creating Backgrounds for your Paintings...

I stayed up late last night, searching for youtube videos that sparked my interest, and I have another 2 videos here to share with you.  I often get questions about how I do my backgrounds, and as I haven't had a chance or time to do a video tutorial of my own, these videos, and the background technique that she shows is very similar to how I usually start my paintings and art journal pages.  There are a lot of ways to create a background, but this is a great representation of how to start! These videos were provided by Michael's Craft Store and the artist is Kathy Kromer...



I really like how she explains hiding the edges of the paper, and how to use darker colors to make things "receed" and lighter colors to make things "pop".  I have never used alcohol inks in my paintings either, so that's something new I learned from her and will have to give it a try soon!

I can't remember if she mentioned this or not, but something that's really important for me when building layers is to use more transparent mediums so that parts of your layers show through one another.  Some of my favorite supplies for doing this is Golden Fluid acrylics, Tim Holtz distress inks, and Golden Glaze Medium for using with my more heavy bodied acrylics.  I almost forgot about my InkTense colored pencils...they are a watercolor pencil that turns permanent once dry.  They are a great alternative/addition to using fluid acrylics if you don't have them.  You can also use any watercolor pencil or crayon, and instead of using water with them, just dip your brush in a glaze medium to spread the color and it will dry permanent...

That's it for now I guess.  My head is swimming with ideas at the moment, so I can't sit still any longer!  Hope you enjoy these videos, there is a lot to learn from them!

Great Advice..."How to Create a Consistant Body of Work" by Cedar Lee

I ran across this video by artist Cedar Lee on why it's important as an artist to create a consistant body of work.  I really like her viewpoint, and the fact that she addresses my issue of wanting to do everything under the sun!  Her opinion gave me some new insight into how I want my journey to progress.  Take a look...it's really worth viewing and listening to what she has to say.

Portrait Tutorials: Full Face, Portrait View and 3/4 View

I was delighted to find these tutorials shared by artist Joyce van der Lely. She is a wonderfully talented mixed media artist and if you click on her name above it will take you to her blog.

When I first started drawing faces I searched high and low for a good tutorial that wasn't too complicated for a beginner like myself.  I couldn't find anything, other than online classes that you had to pay for, and believe me, I spent HOURS looking for good tutorials with no luck!

I hope Joyce's videos will help those of you who want to learn how to draw a face.  I know I would have loved to have found these 3 years ago!








Don't be afraid to try drawing faces...they are so much fun, and not as hard as you think!  Start from the full face view and move on from there.  There are many fun classes online that you can take as well.  Monica Zuniga of Hands and Heart offers many great workshops.  Two of my favorites are Mixed Media Faces, and Pencil Drawing.  She goes into all the detail of how to construct the face proportionally, how to draw each facial feature in different views, shading, and using mixed media to create stylized faces.  Suzi Blu, Pam Carriker and Tam Laporte (Willowing) all offer great classes!  And  Art Trader Magazine website (a new website I just discovered today), offers numerous fun workshops on all different styles of whimsical faces!

I'm challenging myself to draw 100 Faces of all different views and orientations.  It will be really cool to be able to look at 100 drawings and see my progress! I'm also going to be experimenting with different art supplies for my faces.  Some will be graphite, some charcoal, some watercolor, some mixed media, some collage....etcetera.  I'm really looking forward to getting better at stylized portraits (portraits drawn from the imagination), as that has been a huge obsession for the last 3 years!  I can't wait to share all 100 of them when I'm finished!

Hope you enjoyed this post!  And a huge Thank you to Joyce for sharing her talent with us!

Printing On Recycled Dryer Sheets for your Art Projects!

I had to post this tutorial that came up after I watched my own tutorial.  What a great idea and one I hadn't thought of!  You can watch this tutorial to find out how to print images on to dryer sheets and use them in your art projects.  They turn out really cool and translucent, so I can think of a lot of "overlay" uses for them.  Check out this short and easy tutorial!

A New Video Tutorial on Mixed Media Art Cloths!

Well, I finally did it.  It took me way too long, as I know next to nothing about using iMovie and it seems like everything I did took forever for my computer to process...but I did it!  So I can cross this one off my list of short term goals to accomplish.   I really want to make more video tutorials on other techniques, so that will be something I'll be working on soon.  But here it is lady's and gentlemen....drumroll please....

A tutorial on how to make larger mixed media art cloths using recycled materials!

One quick little note about viewing this video...because I used a sound track from Youtube, they throw in advertisements at the bottom of the screen.  You can "X" these out at the top right corner of the advertisement itself so that you can see all of the screen.

More Recycled Dryer Sheet Art!

I spent the last few days creating more mixed media art cloths using the fabric softener sheets that you throw in the dryer.  I recycle them after they've been used.  Awhile back I created a video tutorial on how to create these versatile little masterpieces.  If you would like to view it you can see it here.

Here are the cloths I made recently, the only difference between these and the ones on the tutorial are that I glued and collaged multiple pieces of dryer sheet to make larger works of art.  I plan on making a clutch or bag of some sort with this first one.  This piece was made using 2 rows of 4 dryer sheets each.

This next one was created with one row of 3 dryer sheets

And this one was created using 1 row of 4 dryer sheets

I can't wait to post the finished hand bag, but I'm not much of a seamstress, so it may be awhile!  But my goal is to create a class teaching you how to create larger cloths and assembling them into things like bags, journal covers, wallets etc...

Pricing Your Art Work: Some Great Advice

BI am going through the beginning stages of marketing and selling my artwork, and I suspect that many of you who are embarking on this same path may have some of the same questions that I do. I wanted to share this video that I found very helpful, as well as practical. Hope you enjoy!

Soldering Art Glass Pendants: A Video Tutorial

I was asked recently how I made the art glass pendants I posted a while back.  I'm no pro at this technique and am still very much a novice, but I found this video on YouTube and I think it explains everything you need to know to start making your own soldered art glass pendants.  I have also listed another tutorial under My Pages on the right hand sidebar.  It's listed under the Non-Video tutorial page or you can click here.  One last note, here is what I used to make my soldered glass pendants, a starter kit from SimplySwank.Net

My very own art tutorial: Recycled Dryer Sheets for Mixed Media Art

For this project you will need used dryer sheets and freezer paper (shiny side up).  You will also need some adhesive, I suggest using an acrylic gel medium or a book binding glue (that's what I used).  I love the book binding glue because it's meant to be flexible and dries super quick!  You will need an inexpensive brush to apply the adhesive as well.

You will want to have some papers to collage onto most of the surface, as this is what gives the dryer sheet the strength to be used in sewing projects and such.  I've tried tissue paper, napkins (stripped down to one ply) and painted or dyed paper towels.  I think I like the thickness, texture and strength of the paper towel the best.  Scrapbook papers work well too, but I would use the thinner variety.

You need a variety of acrylic paint colors.  I used Golden fluid acrylics, but anything should work well.  I also used colored copic markers, a sharpie, stamps and different objects to scrape and spread the paint around.

I am still experimenting with this technique (using the dryer sheets), but so far I am really impressed with how well they turn out!  I plan on using them to make handbags, wallets, pencil pouches, eyeglass cases, etc...I may also back them with sheets of fused plastic bags for more durability and to make them 100% recycled art.

Let me know what you think, and show me what you come up with if you decide to try it out!

Shades of Grey Art Journaling Techniques in a Strathmore Bristol.wmv

Pursuing Mixed Media Portraits in Your Art Journal

Faux Acrylic Resist Tutorial: Quick and Easy Technique for Fabulous Backgrounds!

Use this simple technique to create fabulous backgrounds for your Art Journal, Altered Book Spread or even Paintings.  I haven't tried it yet, but I love the look and know I will be using this idea very soon!

Visual Journalism 101 Techniques with Pam Carriker

What an awesome video! I love Pam Carriker's soft colors and style. She makes beautiful art journal pages and shares her techniques in this tutorial. This is one of the best tutorials I've come across so far! Hope you like it, and happy journaling!

Image Transfer Technique using Transparency Film

I transferred this over from my previous blog at wordpress. I can't wait to try this technique. I found a whole package of inkjet transparencies at the local Goodwill (thrift store) yesterday. I've been wanting to get some, but they were too expensive at the office supply store. I only paid 99 cents for an unopened package of 50! What a treat! I will post whatever it is I come up with when I'm finished experimenting. I'm totally inspired!