Creating Challenge Day 118--Art Journal Page

Princess Kate is always so helpful, and she's helping me build my current art journal page!

How is she doing this? I cut out her picture from a magazine, placed it on the background I've been building, and spraypainted black over her. Then I removed her and ended up with this:

Here's her silhouette. I'll use this on the page too:

Dina Wakley shared this technique in her book Art Journal Freedom. Stay tuned as I complete this page. I'll share it soon!

Creating Challenge Day 117--Sketching Noses

Well, I tried. Using the prompts and examples from Figure Drawing for Dummies, this is what I created. Honestly, this nose looks to me like a rocket that's about to lift off. Houston, we have a problem.

Creating Challenge Day 116--Photography and Effects

I'm having way too much fun with my Camera+ and picfx apps. I am obsessed with this windmill that lives in the open space near my house. It makes a perfect subject for my fx frenzy. Here's the original photo:

And here's my jacked-up version:

Creating Challenge Day 115--Art Journal Preparation

I have an art journal page concept floating through my brain. I'm using the background I created awhile ago from leftover paint of another project. I've added some spray ink sprayed through a stencil.

I've also created a sheet of torn book pages adhered to watercolor paper using gel medium. I'll cut shapes out of this and use them on my art journal page. I got this idea from Dina Wakely in Art Journal Freedom.

I'm looking forward to how this will all come together!

Creating Challenge Day 114--Sketching Eyes

I continue my pursuit of acumen in sketching faces and facial features. Here are more angles I'm exploring:

(I must admit, I'm looking at people's eyes in an entirely different way now. So, if you catch me looking funny at you, don't take it personally!)

Creating Challenge Day 113--Two-Point Perspective

My daughter's art teacher encouraged me to explore two-point perspective. "What's that?" I wondered. Well, thanks to this little thing called the Interwebs, I could learn. I watched a YouTube video on perspectives by Karl Gude, and as a result produced this:

Creating Challenge Day 112--Photography and Effects

Snowy day + walk with daughter + beautiful vista + inspiration from friend +

Camera+ app + picfx app + fun = this:

Creating Challenge Day 111--Sketching Eyes

I continue to deepen my learning about drawing faces. Now it's time to practice facial features. Here's my attempt at an eye:

In the past I've struggled to sketch eyes that look somewhat realistic rather than like cartoon bug eyes. I feel I'm making progress!

Creating Challenge Day 110--Photography and Effects

Today I took a walk and found a brave dandelion making its way into the world. I photographed this with my iPhone 4, believe it or not! I used the Camera+ app, which I've had for awhile but not used much. I'm pleased with the clarity and detail.

I then pulled the picture into Picfx, another app I've owned for awhile but have neglected to utilize.

I used the "Gutter" setting for this version of the photo.

Here I used the "Distinct" setting.

Then I found this cool pine cone. Again, I photographed my find with Camera+.

And, again, I pulled my photo into Picfx.

I used the "Scratch" frame setting to give the pinecone a snowy feel.

Creating Challenge Day 109--Sketching Faces, Part 3

Today I attempted side and back views of faces. I need practice, but I'm having fun!

Creating Challenge Day 108--Restoration Project

More stain. More polyurethane. (I ought to write a poem about this.)

Creating Challenge Day 107--Sketching Faces

I am learning so much by sketching faces. I'm thankful for the practice; I need it! Today I sketched the front view as reference (left) then drew a three-quarters view (right). This has challenged me to consider how to show perspective by changing the sizes of facial features and drawing them at angles.

Creating Challenge Day 106--Sketching Faces, Part 2

I've left the measuring tools behind, and now I'm drawing faces freehand. It's simplistic at this point, but as with using the tools, I'm gaining a sense of where features should go.

Creating Challenge Day 105--Sketching Faces

I'm back into Figure Drawing for Dummies. I've begun exploring the section on drawing faces. Today I worked on sketching the front view of the head using measuring tools. This guy looks a little freaky, but drawing him this way helped me get a sense of where facial features generally go.

Creating Challenge Day 104--Collage Preparation

I have a large number of old, old magazines (I think my oldest so far has been November 2003) I've wanted to go through and throw away. I've begun to dissemble them, scavenging words and images that interest me for future art journal/collage pieces. This is the perfect activity when my mind is mush!

Creating Challenge Day 103--Bonus Background!

Inspired by Dina Wakley's expressed distaste for wasting paint--a distaste I share--I used her idea of scraping leftover acrylic paint from current projects onto a new set of art journal pages. I love the exciting combination, and I can't wait to see what thoughts, feelings, words, and images will spill across this background!

Creating Challenge Day 102--Mixed Media Art Journal COMPLETION!

I've finally assembled all of the art journal page pieces I've created over the past week or so. Here's the finished product:

Creating Challenge Day 101--Mixed Media Art Journal

I continue to take steps toward creating this particular art journal page. Today I augmented the background with some watercolor drips. I used watercolor crayons to paint the gessoed squares.

Creating Challenge Day 100--Art Journal Celebration!

It's official: I've created something everyday for 100 days in a row! I'm in triple digits, baby! To celebrate, I created a mixed media art journal page using some of the concepts I've gleaned from Dina Wakley's Art Journal Freedom.

In this piece I've used the concepts of asymmetry, repetition, white space, and dominance
as well as an analogous color scheme.

A few days ago I reflected on my experience thus far, so I won't do that again here. Today I simply rejoice in my persistence, joy, and growth. I also feel extremely grateful for everyone who has encouraged me along the way--you know who you are, and I love you!

Now I face the future, looking into the face of the next 100 days, saying Bring.It.On.

Creating Challenge Day 99--Figure Sketching Exercises

Wow--today's Day 99? Tomorrow's 100??? Cool!

I continue my travels through Figure Drawing for Dummies. Today I worked on shading and blending. I don't have a charcoal pencil, which the author recommended, so I couldn't blend quite as well as the examples I saw in the book. But I'm pleased with my attempts. (And immediately ordered a charcoal pencil from my new BFF Dick Blick!)

Creating Challenge Day 98--Mixed Media Art Journal

I continue to work on an art journal page inspired by Dina Wakley in Art Journal Freedom. In one exercise she challenges us to create pages using grid composition. Today I inked in the pencil lines on the gessoed muslin squares. I also journaled on the watercolor background. (I did previous work on these pages on Day 92 and Day 93.)

I've felt inspired by Wakley's style. She journals in such a fashion that the words meld together and make shapes, and frequently her writing is legible only to herself. That concept frees me to write what I want to write without fear of revealing too much.

Here's my progress so far:

Creating Challenge Day 97--Play!

I value play. I cannot say that strongly enough. I VALUE PLAY!!! (See, now I'm shouting it!) Laughter and levity feed creativity and just plain make us feel good. Today, I've honored this value by diving into Facebook's new BitStrips app. I've created an avatar for myself and created comics for some of my friends. I'm having way too much fun! Here are two renditions of my FB profile picture:

Creating Challenge Day 96--iPad Painting

I've taken the leap and experimented with my new ArtRage app. Dani Jones, author of iPad for Artists, warned me: learning to paint on the iPad takes time and persistence. Move from broad interpretations, she suggests, then refine with each pass. I began with a rough pencil outline.

Then I began blocking in large swaths of color.

The latter activity frustrated me a bit--I struggled to find the exact colors I wanted. I suppose I need to keep trying in order to learn how to manipulate the hues. I do like the feature that allows me to choose a photo from my iPad and tack it to the working surface so I can copy it. (I could also just put it on a layer, trace it, then remove the photo layer from the picture, but what's the fun in that?!)

Creating Challenge Day 95--Photography

What a beautiful day for a walk! I toted my camera too, and created some photo ops. I found a variety of items I'll attempt to sketch in the near future. Here are some of my favorites:

I also found some natural surfaces that I can import into iPad apps to use as backgrounds for art:

Creating Challenge Day 94--Restoration Project

Today I polyurethaned the top of this table, which my daughter and I had stained a couple months ago. Add tires, and voilà--we'll have yet another mobile coffee table!