Month: June 2017

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Express Yourself, revisited

Hi ho, friends.

I haven’t posted for a while because I am recuperating from knee replacement surgery. Recovery is going well, but it’s pretty boring. 

I decided to spend my enforced rest period on revisiting some of the classes I have access to.

I have an art journal and limited art supplies on hand: black Pitt Pens, Diane Reveley paint pens, a few Pitt Brush Pens in skin tones and a few other colors, a mechanical pencil, kneaded eraser, a few Derwent Inktense pencils, and water pens.

Express Yourself. I took this class from Jane Davenport a couple years ago. I reviewed the Emotion Map and worked on Pouts and Puckers and spent more time exploring pouty expressions. I really liked one of the faces and made a larger version on one of the expression map pages.

I used Derwent Inktense pencils, Pitt Pens, washi, and paint pens. Since I don’t have gesso, I had to leave some of the paper uncolored for white space. Plus a little fiddling with Aviary and Pixlomatic.

It’s an interesting challenge to work with a limited palette. I won’t be able to get to my studio for another week or so, because it is up a spiral staircase. I haven’t graduated to that yet, but I make improvements every day.

I am getting more out of the class this time through. 

Express Yourself is a terrific class once you have some basic face drawing skills in place. 

What are you working on this summer? Leave a comment below and let me know. I’d love to stop by and see what’s up with you.

Happy creating!

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AJA 2017 Week 5

The theme for Week 5 was: Here comes the sun and incorporating a face.  The pages started with some stream of consciousnes writing, which I gessoed over.  I use Gelatos, Derwent Inktense pencils, Pitt and Posca pen for these pages. The lyrics are from The Beattles’ song, “Here Comes the Sun.”

AJA-Week5

To be honest, I’ve fallen a bit behind on the 2017 Art Journal Adventure, but I will try to catch up.  I purposefully chose a small art journal so I can work pages quickly.

Stay tuned for more AJA pages.

Happy creating.

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WIP Cloth art doll

Hi ho friends.

As mentioned in the last post, I wanted to make a cloth doll.  I flipped through my copy of Jan Horrox’ “Making Fantasy Cloth Dolls,” book recently and dug into my fabric stash to make the elfin fairy doll, sans wings.

Overall impression. I enjoyed making this doll.  The pattern and instructions are very clear and easy to follow. Most of the work was easy enough, except turning the fingers. I had all the tools except the tiny turners for the fingers, but I made it work…eventually. It took the Purple Thang, a chop stick, and probably about 30 minutes of pushing and prodding to turn the hands.

The face. This face is lightly needle sculpted. The mermaid doll pattern has additional needle-sculpting along the bridge.  I will make make the mermaid next. Oddly enough, I’m following the directions and projects in the book in sequence. Wacky!

Overall, I’m happy with her face. I didn’t quite get the sculpting I wanted for the end of her nose.  I’m sure it will just take a little practice to shift the stuffing around while needle sculpting.

For her face, I used Prisma pencils, black XS Pitt Pen, Big Brush Pitt Pens, and white Posca pen.

Elfdoll
Elfdoll close-up

General impression of the project.  The finished doll is about 18″ tall.  She sits nicely.  I stuffed her arms and legs a bit too firmly so they don’t bend very much. However, I’m pretty happy with this gal.  I like her costume and jewelry (strategically placed to hide her wrist joints).

I think the dolls in this book are a good start for someone who has not made cloth art doll previously. If you are already an artsy/craftsy person, you will probably have most of the supplies on hand.

I’m looking forward to making the other three dolls in the book.

Happy creating!