Life Book 2015: Week 27 - Artist interview with Jessica Swift

There was no actual lesson for this week but I was inspired during the interview with Jessica Swift  to create this page.  About the same time I saw the bird from the Tim Holtz collection and thought it was really cute so I drew it onto my page as the focal point.  It went well with the quote I had chosen.

Life Book 2015: Week 26 - Our inner Warrior Princess with Andrea Gomoll

I am so in love with the work of the lovely Andrea Gomoll (and she has the most gorgeous accent).  This lesson was designed to help us get in touch with our inner Warrior Princess, or as Andrea puts it "the little Lady inside of us that is strong, courageous, who is fighting for her goals and for what she believes in, who loves to discover new things, who is mindful and therefore at peace with herself" - something I was SO NOT!!!  I certainly did not feel strong, nor courageous, especially given the battle I was facing at that time but this came just as I started turning a corner, and, as usual, the timing was perfect.

First up was to sketch the face, hair and tiara before laying down a basic watercolour wash, then building up layers of colour, outlining with a fine black marker and adding texture paste and acrylic paint through stencils (stencilled quote from Donna Downey), followed by a little hint of Pan Pastels to intensify the colour.  The shield was created separately and then added to the finished page with foam dots to give a 3D effect. 

Absolutely loved this lesson and loved the finished page.

Life Book 2015: Week 25 - Stencilling what you love with Lynzee Lynx

Lynzee Lynx showed us how to create our own stencils.  This was a fun project.  

Lists of what we love, what brings us comfort and healing were written on a blank page.  Doodles and messages were then written around the writing.  The stencil was created and then paint splashes added.  Water was sprayed on the page and the paper tipped to move the water and paint around the page.  

Once dry I used a foam brush to apply paint over the stencil and then all the doodles and details were added using drawing and paint pens.  

So cool to make my own stencil.  I also used one of the stamps I made from an earlier lesson so lots of 'me' in this page.

Life Book 2015: Week 24 - Happy painting with Juliette Crane

This is a real 'mixed media' painting - it uses multiple papers and washi tape collaged to form the base of the painting followed by both oil and water paints.  There was no sketching involved in this painting - it was just painted direct onto the background.  Self portrait ????  Thanks Juliette Crane for an interesting lesson.

Life Book 2015: Week 23 - Magic, Vulnerability & Courage with Tamara Laporte

Again, another challenging lesson from the lovely Tamara Laporte.  This time - looking at the masculine archetype.  Right through this year we have been painting female faces and I did not want my male to look effeminate - he had to look masculine.  The concept was about vulnerability and how this requires having strength and courage - it certainly took a lot of courage to put pencil to paper.

In typical Tam style the background was created with collage, colour, stamping and gesso.  Stencils and doodles added, then time to paint the face and body. Finally the text was hand written on and I was done.  It took me a while but pretty happy with the result really - if I do say so myself.  I think he looks masculine - do you?

Thanks for looking.

Life Book 2015: Week 22 - Reflections of you with Jeanne Oliver

When this lesson from Jeanne Oliver was released I was not ready to face it, so I put it on hold for a few weeks.  Anything that had to do with looking at myself and/or my emotions was just too hard.  When the time came to start it was a challenge but one I knew I just had to do.

We started by taking a photo of ourselves then sketching it with charcoal and white gesso.  From there we photographed the sketch, printed it, cut it out, and used gel medium to transfer the image onto a blank page.  I added torn up pieces of wrapping paper and adhered to the page for the clothing.  We painted around the image with white gesso followed by paint and etching patterns with a skewer (I sponged gold paint to mine to give it an oriental feel).

It was then time to paint the face over the existing image and make any final changes - I added the flower embellishment and text to complete mine.

Life Book 2015: Week 21 - Black and white cookie with Lynn Whipple

This weeks lesson came with a bonus from Tamara Laporte where we were invited to paint an apple, complete with shading.  The actual lesson with Lynn Whipple I had difficulty following the concept (given my health at the time I'm not surprised) and so I focused on the bonus lesson instead. 

Seems funny that somewhere along the art journey there is always a still life drawing of an apple.  In the past I have never been too successful at this but I really enjoyed this lesson and came out with a reasonable looking apple.