Working on White Space

More tangles

Kelly suggested trying some ATC size tangles using a new pattern called jax. Here are my two attempts.







I think I like the first one more, as it has more white space. At times it feels like you need to fill every centimetre.

The first thaw...

For the first time in ages I managed to do something arty. It took about three days to complete and I found it most satisfying. At last I feel as though the thaw might be starting.

Lost and Found

The last six weeks have gone by in a fog. I got used to having two days a week to myself - and it was glorious. I went from that to being surrounded by family 24/7. Noone stops me doing art, but I find that not having my own head space means I can't find my "art mojo". I look longingly at my art supplies, even sit at my desk, but no creative juices flow forth.

And so I found myself lost and adrift. And it seems that after awhile I was forgetting where and how to start.

I had a quiet day, and decided to try a profile picture of a lady.


I usually love the process of painting, building the layers. But that old critical voice, who I thought had been silenced, reared her head. And now I have a picture and no ideas on "what to do next". It's as though the art ideas part of my brain has become frozen.

So I decided that the path back could lie in a simple sketch book. I have an HB and a 3B next to my bed. I plan to practise different faces, if not every night, at least every second.

Here is my first

The Burden

This was the second ever sketch in my Mole. I roughed out the figure of the woman - around July 2010 - and then was unsure what to do next, so she got left...

Just after Christmas, I started going back through my Mole, finishing off pages. The style of the lettering was inspired from watching a video by Milliande

Taylor Made Rocky Road

Xmas time in our house means home made rocky road. Of course family tradition means putting your own spin on things.

Ingredients
200g 70% Lindt dark choc
500g Cadbury Old Gold
Pkt mini marshmellows
Pkt Allens mini frogs (chopped in half)
Pkt mixed nuts (unsalted)
Cup dedicated coconut

Method
Break choc into small pieces and melt
Mix all dry ingred into choc
Pour onto dish lined with baking paper
Chill and enjoy.

Her thoughts darted in and out like little fish

I usually paint my portrait pictures with a combination of guouche, water colour pencils/crayons and or using artists pencils. However, I enrolled in Portraits with Pam Carriker, which shows you how to paint and shade using acrylics. I find water colour so much more forgiving, but doing classes is all about stepping out of your comfort zone.

I decided to work on a spread in my Mole that I had previously added colour to (using up paint on my brush). At this stage I thought that I might like to draw a fairy, and experimented with swirly, curly wings.

Initial sketch

I try to incorportate as many experimental elements into each page. I decided to use an unusual colour pallette (well for me anyway). I wanted to use a bright green with the pink, and also incorporate orange.The first step was to overlay the page with green.

Green paint overlay

I have watched a video tutorial on adding alcohol to acrylic paints for a lovely effect and wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately I could not get it to work, so instead, gently rubbed over the green to reveal the pink beneath. I thought that perhaps the technique was not working because I was spraying my alcohol (100% Isopropyl alcohol) whereas it was "dripped" in the tutorial. Well I got a little carried away with my dripping....Lucky alcohol evaporates very quickly.

What happens when you pour instead of dripping.

I added a little more pink on the left hand side for balance

Colour Balancing.

Now I am ready to get down to the nitty gritty of the tutorial. I coloured her hair, and covered her neck and face with titan buff. I also added some burned umber to the edges of the pages. Note: RHS is not that dark. The page has curled from the moisture, and so threw a shadow when I photographed it.

Foundation colour added to face and hair

Using burned umber mixed with titan buff, I started to add the shading. I also coloured her shirt.At this stage, I also decided that I no longer wanted to do a fairy (incase you were wondering).

Adding shading

I continued adding more shading and added a print to her shirt. I also added her irises so that she no longer looks like zombie girl.

Final details added.

And finaly, I added my journaling. In the end, after much cursing, I actually liked the process and am going to practise painting with acrylics.