This is what happens when I avoid housework...

Not the greatest picture, but I had a lot of fun making these beaded charms. A few days ago I had the pleasure of going to a bead warehouse called Shipwreck Beads. I used some of my stashed money from Christmas.. Wow, talk about visual stimulation overload. I was simply overwhelmed by the size of this place and the volume of beads and other jewelry making supplies. It didn't take long to spend almost $200!!! yikes, I always have buyers guilt after spending that kind of money. 

At any rate, I have plenty to keep me busy for a long while! I couldn't resist the urge to sit down as soon as the kids were off to school.  Of course I really should have been doing laundry, vacuuming, planning dinner etc... Now it's almost time for the kiddos to come home and (shameful) I'm still in my PJs! Oh well...now I have some cute new elements to add to my jewelry projects. 

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: 155 Faces Video

Not too long ago I talked about sketching 100 faces and then sharing them here.  I've finally put together a video featuring 155 faces from past and present...and I'm still drawing and sketching and painting them!  Stylized, whimsical, fantasy...I like them all.  My "face" art doesn't seem to interest the art gallery much, but they are still one of my favorite things to paint and just have fun with! Most of these are from my art journals and sketchbooks but a few of them are actual paintings on canvas.

As always, I'd love to hear what you think, comments are always welcomed and appreciated, and serve as a huge source of inspiration for me.  Even constructive criticism is okay:)

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!

29 Faces Challenge: Faces # 27, 28, 29...The End

Well, I'm both relieved and sad to end the 29 Faces challenge...This was the first "challenge" I've ever taken part in, and I have learned so much and met some great artists/friends along the way!  I just may have to find myself another challenge to try again soon!  I'm still determined to get 100 faces done, so I'll be working toward that goal too.  Here they are, the last 3 faces (well 4)!
I haven't finished any of them, but I did get them and one other sketched out.  Started on the shading of the face on the first one....lots to do!

29 Faces Challenge: Face #26

Just a sketch for today, something I'm sure I'll use later on down the road.  Got some bad news today, so I'm not feeling like being creative.

29 Faces Challenge: Face #25

Yikes,  I'm behind again!  Here is face #25, she's not finished yet, but this is as far as she's going to get for now.  I have so many other fish to fry at the moment.  Her skin tone is a little dark, so I may try lightening that up a bit and I'll need to finish the background with some very minor tweaks.  She is done using mostly acrylic paint on a canvas panel.

I'm looking at her now that I've just uploaded her and she looks all grainy.  She doesn't look like that in iphoto, or in real life.  Not sure what I did there.  Must have been a scanning error, I'm not sure!

29 Faces Challenge: Face #24

I took a sketch into Corel Painter 4 and played around with that.  I've decided I'll use Painter more often, I didn't realize how versatile it is, although I'm sure I don't know the half of what I can do with it.  There are a lot of things I don't get about it.  Anybody else use this program and know of any good tutorials?

29 Faces Challenge: Face #23

I took the sketch below and put it in photoshop elements just to mess around.  I don't know much about how to use PSE, but just playing around with different things is fun, and educational!

29 Faces Challenge: Face #22

Face #22

I did the basic face in a sketch book and colored her in with prismacolor pencils.  The rest was done in photoshop.

29 Faces Challenge: Face # 20

Face #20...almost caught up!  I know she's really creepy looking.  It's weird how you see things when you upload to your computer and get a different view.  I just noticed that the space between her upper lip and her nose is way too long.    I did her face using Faber Castel Pitt Artist Big Brush Pens.

29 Faces Challenge: Face #19

Here she is...Face #19

29 Faces Challenge: Face #18

Here is Face # 18, I feel bad that I'm now in a hurry to catch up...but oh well!

29 Faces Challenge: Face #17

I have a lot of catching up to do!  My family and I just returned from a great weekend at the ocean digging razor clams...Yum.  I didn't have much time to spend on my 29 Faces challenge, but I plan on catching up!

I did this face in photoshop and also used an online website called Scribbler.  I had never heard of it before this challenge.  I discovered it on Toad in a Boat's blog, and I'm so glad I did.  You just have to go try it out, it's addicting!  I created the face using Scribbler, then took a screen shot of my creation, cropped it and opened the file in Photoshop Elements where I just played around with different brushes, colors and backgrounds.  I'm not real proficient in PSE yet.

I will try and get caught up with my faces over the next couple of days and get back on track!
Have a great week!

29 Faces Challenge: Face # 16

Well it's just a sketch for today's Face #16.  I had a very busy and wonderful day (see my previous post), so there was no time to get too crazy.  I'll try and get something more substantial done tomorrow!  I may drop off the grid for a few days, as we are going to the ocean for the weekend.  My family just may want to kill me if I bring my computer along with me, so I'm going to have to leave it at home!

I'll be back posting again Monday.  Until then, happy creating everyone and thanks for all the supportive comments on this challenge!

29 Faces Challenge: Face # 14

Happy Valentine's Day to Everyone!

Face #14:  "BFF" (Best Friends Forever)
Friendship is a single soul living in two bodies.
- Aristotle

29 Faces Challenge: Face #13

She's not complete yet, I have more finish work to do on her, but again, had to post her now because I don't have any more time to spend working on her today.

I have a thing for redheads, as my youngest is a beautiful little redhead with beautiful blue eyes!

Have a great week everyone, and Happy Valentine's day tomorrow as well, hopefully I'll have another to post tomorrow, but you never know when things get hectic I tend not to produce much "finished"work.

29 Faces Challenge: Face # 11

This girl started out really bad, but she came together at the last minute after I dug through my stash of painted papers and paper scraps.  I have to remember that next time I get stuck.  Looking through all those papers really gave me inspiration.  Here she is, my bohemian girl...

She was created using prismacolor pencils, Pitt Artist Pens, H20 Watercolors, acrylic paint and a peacock feather stamp for the background.  Hand painted papers for her headband.

29 Faces Challenge: Face # 10

Face # 10, the background is a bit muddy.  I'm always too impatient to let the layers dry appropriately, and on this thin paper, I didn't quite come away with what I had in mind.  Busy day, so this will have to do.  The fact that I got her done is a good thing in itself!

I used a whole mess of art supplies on this one.  Stamps, inks, white gel pen, bingo dauber (black), prismacolor pencils, pitt artist pens, watercolor crayons and twinkling H20 watercolors, black micron pen and last but not least, acrylic paints.

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.