Practice

Hi all...Kim here, running late with my blog post once again!  So happy that our DT Manager, Bonnie Irvine, sends me early morning emails that contain gentle reminders of my memory lapse!  I'd be lost without her!  Thanks, Bonnie!  So on to today's project...let's start with the quote (written in my most awful handwriting...Donna Downey, I am not!) 

Practice is the hardest part of learning...

It's true, right?  It's not so hard once we've mastered a particular skill but ongoing practice takes a commitment.  Can I just tell you how many times I want to give up on trying to draw faces?  Ugh...I'm seriously horrible at drawing...like I can't even draw a very good stick figure!  However, I'm continuing to push past those annoying little "just give up" voices in my head and am moving forward with more practice and working to find what style works for me.  This journal project started in the midst of a big snowstorm, which, in my opinion, is the perfect time to create art!

I started by sketching my face with a "magic" pencil...and really, I'm going to get these for the store...I also used a reference photo that I found in a face drawing book I picked up.

I don't feel a real need for super perfect details on my face drawings and actually would probably like them more if they were more "sketchy," if that makes sense.  But my strong left brained ways has a hard time letting so of being precise...I'm working on that...hey, I'm publicly sharing my kind of crooked face drawing...that's a start! LOL!  (I do like the nose on this gal...)

I then added color to the face using Gelatos (links at the end of this post) and seriously...this is my most favorite way to use Gelatos.  Just scribble some color onto your project and using a watercolor brush to blend...LOVE!

And yes, I love how the water brush picks up and moves the black lines from the pencil...instant shading!  Since I wasn't sure what to do with the hair, I left that and added color to the background of both pages by applying acrylic paints, layering a stencil over the paint, and removing paint with a baby wipe.  (Thank you, Dina Wakley!)

Don't mind the lump on her neck...I'll fix that in a minute!  Once the paint was on the background, I remembered the Donna Downey class I had taken, where we layered flowers all over the woman's head so I thought I'd try my hand at using a stencil to create the same look.  Here's what I came up with...

This was a lot easier than hand drawing leaves and flowers.  I used a sponge to "pounce" the paint through the stencil...just like you would on a wall.  Then I added some flowers...

For the flowers, I traced (using pencil) through the stencil and then added the paint over the pencil lines.  Once the flowers were added, I needed to fill in those empty spots so I added lots of little dots and squiggles (that's a technical term) to fill everything out.

 

I also beefed up the eyelashes a bit on my model and then I stamped this great quote from Dina Wakley, "create with abandon, just put the brush to the paper and see what happens...." over my girl's fixed neck.  Lastly, I used India ink to hand write the practice quote...not sure I'd do that again as the ink really spreads quickly and I had a hard time controlling the ink.  I prefer either typewritten or sticker letters but it was fun to practice with the ink.

And there you have my snowy day next face project...I hope you enjoy and you find some time today to create with abandon!!

Supplies:
Dylusions Art Journal

Adirondack Acrylic Paints

Dylusions 9x12 Leaf Flourish Stencil

Dylusions 9x12 Dotted Flower

Create with Abandon Stamp

Archival Ink (Jet Black)

Gelatos (Neutrals and 50's Diner)