Monday, January 27, 2014

Keep Calm and Do

Hello and happy Monday!  Micki here to share an art journal spread in which I faced my fear..... my fear of sketching and painting a face.  Perhaps the fear stemmed from knowing that the end result would be posted here or perhaps because I was video taping my efforts.  For some reason, doing quick sketches during my lunch hour seem no problem at all, why is that?  Anyway,  let me start with the background:
Here's the video creating the backgroun:
In case you can't see it, here's the direct link:  http://youtu.be/cx5erjUta_I




Now came the stomach churning apprehensiveness - the sketching.  Well, actually the sketching didn't make me tremble.   In the video, you'll see where I rummage through my pencil case looking for different pencils.  I believe I used them all, from 2H down to 4B including some charcoal pencils but in the end I used a 4B the most.  Once I had the pencil sketch down, then came the stomach churning...... adding paint!  
  • I used a lot of paint, adding spritzes of water in addition to using the glazing medium to keep the paints more "wet".  To create the shadows and try to built shadow layers, I was heavy handed on adding water to the paints.  If I thought the shadows were too dark, I just went back with a slightly damp brush and blended the shadow out.  It's a "back & forth" which you will see in the video.
  • I tried to remember to mix my paints with the Palette Knife instead of the brush, but towards the end I was so engrossed in painting, that I forgot.  You should use a palette knife to thoroughly mix paints.  I've had that incident where the individual paint colors would show in the paint stroke because I "thought" I had mixed the paints thoroughly with my brush.
  •  I utilized the pencil marks for creating shadows since the soft lead (4B) smudged with a wet brush.
direct link in case it doesn't work:  http://youtu.be/mgNBfinXCa4




Once I decided that I could literally go on and on with the shading of the face, and I really had to fix dinner, I decided to stop and finish:
  • Because I had quite a bit of paint left on my craft sheet, I used my finger and randomly stenciled on the pages.  
  • Using Christy Tomlinson Coffee Filter sheet as my base for a stamped sentiment by covering it with some left over white paint.  
  • Don't forget to use your Craft Scraper as a paint tool by making straight linear marks with it.
  • I used the hexagon stencil resist areas for my journaling.
  • The blue "Keep Calm" was my library due date reminder which I had to use :).  The stamped sentiment, Donna Downey What Others Day from Unity Stamp Co, was stamped onto the gessoed coffee filter paper with Wendy Vecchi's Watering Can Archival Ink.  I cut all the words apart, glued them on to the page and then doodled around them.  
  • To keep the words from being to "crisp and clean", I used a very wet brush and watered down paint to give them a wash followed by drying with a paper towel.





Wow, I think I covered it all.... I think!  She's not perfect but I kept calm and did it!  Now I just need to learn iMovie so the next time it doesn't take me five hours to create these three videos!
I hope you were inspired to try your hand at sketching a portrait,  or just to get your paints out and play.






Supplies used:

8 comments:

  1. A mahooooosive...WOW Mickie.....oh my...... Amazing Artwork.....the details.....WOW....blown away my friend!!!!!
    Off to watch the videos,:-):-):-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had to come back, just finished watchinh your videos and......clapping my hands here...bravo Micki you are fearless!! Loved every second...panicked when you splodged the hair....quickly followed by lots of ooohing and ahhhhing....Stunning Micki, thank you so much for sharing! It was brilliant to watch your pages come to life.
    Xxxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOOOOVED watching you work!!You have no fear in creating!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fantastic pages Mickie ! Your drawing is totaly awesome ! Off to check out your videos. Sue C x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Micki,
    This was so fun to watch your video's, you have amazing courage to do your art on film. It turned out amazing and sure inspired me. Going to play now. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mickie-WOW! She turned out awesome! I loved seeing your process. I'm still learning about all the different little products to use to enhance. I too use gelatos, paint, pencils, pens-the mixture really creates a work of art! You did fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is just absolutely AMAZING! She is just Beautiful and I LOVED watching your videos! THX for taking the time to put this post together! It is just FANTASTIC!

    ReplyDelete
  8. She's beautiful Micki!! and I love the soft blues behind her!

    ReplyDelete