Pure Adventure

Here is the newest character in my Character Journal.  I had sketched her out quite awhile ago, along with some other sketches that I’ll be adding to the journal.

Here is a picture of the sketch along with the character prior to finishing up her dress and the background.  I scanned the sketch, re-sized it, and transferred it to the journal by printing onto transparency film and then rubbing it onto the journal page.

I was trying to decide what to put on the opposite page and came across the quote by Maya Angelou.  I thought my character looked a little adventurous so I decided to use the quote.

I’m looking forward to a long 4 day weekend coming up and hope to get some more play time in!

Character Journal – Spread 5

Here is another spread in my character journal.  I’m not really sure that it is finished but thought I would post anyway.   Things have been a bit crazy around here the past 3 weeks or so.   Sometimes it seems that everything just goes wrong at once!  But, things have calmed down a bit now and fingers crossed it stays that way!  I’m hoping to start another page in my character journal and also finish up a canvas painting I have had in the works for awhile.  I should be posting the painting soon.

For this spread I used a graphite pencil to draw in the images and then colored in most of the pages with Caran D’Ache watercolor crayons along with Tombow markers.  I think it still needs something added and that cat just doesn’t look finished.  I’m not so good at drawing animals.  I could see the outline of a cat in the background paint so I just had to add it.   I’m ready to move on to something else for now though.

Have a great week!

Without Change

Here is another completed spread in my character journal.  This background started with leftover paint from other projects and then I added a little stenciling and stamping.  I drew in the girl and glued down some butterfly images.  I found the quote on-line but it is unknown who said it.

I really enjoy working in this journal.  I’ve been sketching lately and have a few characters I drew which I am going to scan, resize and then copy into the journal to paint.

Have a great week!

Character Journal – Spread 3

Here is the third spread in my character journal.  I added some rhinestone gems to their antennae for a bit of shine.  The 2 smaller flowers were created using torn pieces from a printed copy of one of my paintings.  I’ve been keeping the journal near when painting canvases and using any leftover paint on the pages as a start to a new background.

Once Upon a Time

I completed another spread in my character journal.   The moleskine paper really crinkles and rolls up with collage and a lot of wet media, but I kind of like that.  I noticed the paper can tear easily at the inside seam and probably should start putting masking tape there before I cover the page with gesso.

I applied gesso to both pages, let it dry and then added some collage.  I used acrylic paints for the background along with some gesso scraped through drywall tape to create the small white circles.  I drew in the character with a charcoal pencil.  I used some quinacridone nickel azo gold paint mixed with titan buff for shading her skin. I used colored pencils to add more detail to her face and dress and a black pitt pen to outline her facial features.

I had a wonderful Christmas but it can be so tiring.   I am looking forward to some down time and some art time.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a very Happy New Year!

 

Meet Lucy

Here’s the first spread I did in my character journal.  It is a small moleskine journal that measures around 6 by 8 inches.  The dragonflies are die cuts from K&Company and the circle flowers are pieces of a print I had made with the Gelli plate.  I drew and painted in the character and asked my granddaughter Tena what I should call her.  Right away she said “Lucy”.  I think that the name Lucy fits her perfectly.

Here’s a close up of Lucy.  If you haven’t seen the new animate anything app, you should go check it out.  I animated Lucy on my phone and it is so awesome (although a bit freaky) to see your character come to life!  I wanted to post the animation here but it doesn’t look like WordPress supports the file.

I’m working on finishing up a larger painting that I had started probably about a year ago and am also almost finished with another spread in my character journal.  Happy creating!

Just My Imagination

I recently purchased a book called Imaginary Characters – Mixed Media Techniques for Figures and Faces.  I first learned of this book through a Cloth Paper Scissors magazine called Faces that I had posted about previously.  Karen O’Brien, the author of the Imaginary Characters book, and her girl in the red shoes character takes you on a wonderful little folktale journey.    Karen teaches you how to create your own one-of-kind characters and provides more than 30 well explained projects to get you started!   I just love her little characters and the book has many full page images for your viewing pleasure.   I have to say this book just makes me smile every time I open it.

Here is a character I created on mixed media paper after reading through Karen’s book.  Fun, fun, fun!!!

Chase Your Dreams

This is a journal page I had posted on previously that wasn’t yet finished.  I just haven’t had much time to play lately but did do a little more on this page.  I cut a stencil out of cardstock for the hat and applied molding paste through it and then stamped into it with a textured piece of craft foam.  After the paste dried I colored it with a Tombow watercolor marker.  I used a white Posca paint pen to scribble on the hat ball and stamped on the words.  I’m calling it finished and am looking forward to my next project, whatever it may be.

Works in Progress

I haven’t completed anything this week to post about but thought I would share a few things that are in process.   The first picture below is a portion of a mixed media painting on canvas that I have been working on a little each evening.  Lots of color and things to look at in the layers of this one. The second picture is of a journal page that I started over the weekend but then got side tracked working on the canvas.  I’m hoping to finish them up this week and will post more pictures when I do.

 

 

Faces

My husband and I were out of town last week and I knew that I wouldn’t have much, if any, time to play art while I was away.  But, just in case, I threw some Tombow markers, a graphite and charcoal pencil along with a little mini Strathmore Visual Journal in a shoe box.   We were very busy and I didn’t have much time to think about art until I went into a Michael’s store and found a new Cloth Paper Scissors magazine called FACES  (It is a Fall 2015 magazine but I couldn’t find a link on their website).   One night I had a chance to look through the magazine at all the gorgeous faces created by a number of different artists.  I fell in love with the cute little characters created by Karen O’Brien and just had to try one.

For this one, I randomly scribbled on various colors of Tombow markers and very lightly painted them out with a wet paintbrush.  Next I drew in the face with a charcoal pencil and added more color with the markers.  Very quick and easy and I got my art fix in!

We got home yesterday and last night I started sketching out more faces.  The one above was inspired by the cover photo on the magazine which was created by Dina Wakely.

Here are a few more that I did without adding color:

I think I’ll start a new journal of just faces.  This one is only 3.5″ x 5″ so I’ll go a little bigger on the size.