Unfortunately, I am not getting much done with my other challenges. Even with work being quiet for the last couple of weeks, I seem only to be able to concentrate on LFI lessons with the occasional journal page thrown in.
Let's Face It Week 9 - Deb Weiers
Deb does these amazing whimsical characters with pen and ink, and she gave us an insight into her process with an introductory video. We then got detailed instructions for a project using coloured inks, collage and loose pen work.
My character is based on some photos of Margot Robbie in "Love" magazine and has a 1950's vibe which Deb picked up on in her comments. I used my Distress stains and Signo pens - but will be buying some inks and a proper pen & nib in the future.
After I had drawn the hair, I was reminded of the old rhyme my mother used to tell us:
There once was a girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good
She was very, very good
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
A couple of the participants did giraffes, so I was very tempted to try my hand at one too. BUT then I saw a post on FB from Landline about camels in the outback with a wonderful close-up photo, so I did a camel instead! This was done on a page where I had wiped off leftover paint - all I did was tone it down a bit with pale grey and draw the camel with black & white Signo pens.Shading was done using water soluble black coloured pencil.
Naturally, I had to find a rhyme about camels - a clean one, as there are way too many iffy limericks out there!! Anyway, I did find a nice limerick called Nance & her Dance by Shira:
There once was a camel named Nance
Who decided to learn how to dance.
She wiggled her hump
And shimmied her rump
Whenever they gave her the chance.
My next bright idea was to draw and paint Merlin (my niece's old horse). My niece regularly posts old photos of Merlin on FB, even though he has been gone for a few years, and everyone oohs & aahs and says what a great horse he was.
This is the reverse of the process for the 1950's girl where we gesso'd over the background so she stood out - instead I gesso'd over the horse outline to make him stand out. Again, the background is leftover paint wiped over a blank page in my 8x8 journal.
I find that I like drawing animals, so I am collecting reference photos and may try some more family pets - past & present. But next time I'll do them on separate sheets, so I can give them away.
Journal 52 Week 9 - Emerge
A constant image on our television screens lately, is one of people (mainly women & children) emerging from the ruins of war-torn cities in Syria and Iraq. So that was the first thing that popped into my head with this week's Journal 52 prompt.
Again I used a page where I had wiped leftover paint, but this time in a vertical pattern, so it was reminiscent of buildings or people. I defined some of the shapes with water soluble pencil and added extra colour with water soluble crayons. I gesso'd lightly around the edges to look like smoke or dust and wrote the words.
This was a quick page to do - very intuitive - but it hit a nerve with many group members when I posted it.
Well my next LFI lesson involves OIL paint and I am still trying to decide if I will use this medium (which I haven't really liked in the past) or try doing the lesson using acrylics. Am I adventurous enough to try the oils? And if I still don't like them, what will I do with the leftover paint, mediums & brushes? There's more reasons not to use them - cost of materials & storage afterwards.
Anyway, thanks for looking - hope you enjoyed your visit and come again.
Keep well and bye for now.
