On A Whim

I recently opened up one of my bigger journals which is something I hadn't done in awhile and began to rework this. Pardon the quality. I took this at night and I couldn't get the lighting right. I think I am returning to my "I wanna do better faces thing." I started playing around and trying to add more paint, shading etc. And then this one was already nearby me on the table. Pan pastel on the face. ON a whim I set this one on top of the other. Pretty funny. Somehow even though the card stock is not laying down flat, the colors seem to work with one on top of the other.The background becomes more interesting. Neither piece is finished. Her mouth is crooked. What do you think?

Coming Down the Home Stretch............ The Smash Book Overhaul

I'm continuing to show you my "Smash Book" that I bought in my local art store two years ago. I liked the sturdy pages, some already containing some interesting prompts.I began to "overhaul" it, mostly while watching Netflix. I was also just beginning to draw faces so this was a place to play and experiment. The woman with the egg shaped face and the skinny neck was drawn on top of an already used piece of waxed paper. This was before I knew about using deli paper. Waxed paper seem to offer some interesting texture and marks especially when full of old paint and anything else. In the next one I was playing. Playing with crayon and then painting on top, and just plain doodling, scribbling, stamping, making fun messes, and playing with faces. And the last duo are drawn on top of layers of paint and here you can see the beginnings of the stamps I carved along the upper and side borders. So, that's it for now. There's a few more pages yet to show you for another day. Thanks for visiting. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. It means a lot.

Esprit- The Smash Book Overhaul Cont'd.

The word esprit, a french word comes from the Latin word spiritus, which means a breathing, a spirit. I used pieces of an international newspaper in the background of this journal page. I thought after it was done it was kind of cool that the images underneath the face came through as if a breathing spirit. It was not intentional. It just seem to come together. Does that happen to you? Thanks for visiting here. I am joining the party (late as usual) over here and here

IF ......... The Smash Book Overhaul - Cont'd

If you had to pack up your life and leave in a hurry what belongings would you take? Remember I started this overhaul 2 years ago so I was just beginning to draw faces. Her hair was black at first but she looked to me like one of Cinderella's evil step sisters, so I tried to soften it with silver since "that is now where my head is at." :) The stamping around the edges with the teeny dots are if memory serves me correctly, very early Julie Fei-Fan Balzer Designs stamps. I've used them off and on through this book. If I had to pack up my life in a hurry I would bring family photos, my journals and art journals, my animals, and as many art supplies as I could. How about you? If you had to pack up your life and leave in a hurry what would you take?

Furiously Strong Winds Tonight........The Smash Book Overhaul- part 3

Continuing on. .. On the other side of that small flap page was my home made tree stencil. and a page where I documented that I had done my taxes. Probably was happy knowing I was getting a few dollars back. And why I got so excited about the invisible write on tape from The Dollar Store, I'll never know. And one more. Braving drawing a face.with bits of Citrasolv altered paper, scraps of doodling and lettering in the background. Stay tuned for more. Thanks for visiting...................

The Foam Board Four

Once upon a time in January of 2013 there was a piece of foam board on my table. No. This is not an April Fool's joke. This was a catch-all piece I'd do all my work on top of so it caught everything.And do you remember my goal last year was to practice drawing faces and wanting to incorporate them into my art? I think I've shown you a couple of these before. I am being brave to show these to you because they really stink.I let this sit for a good many months before I sent back to it.And reworked it some more. And ended up with this. They are certainly a bunch of strange characters but I've grown fond of them over the year watching them develop. I feel good that I didn't give up and did pretty much finish this painting. So. There you have the foam board four. Don't mess with them. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ I'm going to link this on Friday here and here.

The Second Finished Piece

I also presented this one for the 29 faces challenge in February. It originally looked like this on card stock. I cut her out and cut the other collaged peices out and reworked it onto a 12x12 piece of plywood after layering with various papers and inks. Somehow it feels better. It feels finished now. Thanks for visiting here......................................jo

A New Journal

I was cleaning out some closets recently and came across this old photo album. I could've tossed it in the trash or put it in the "garage sale" pile but I saw something else. I took a bunch of the pages out, removed the plastic and started playing. There's a good amount of pages in this photo album so this will become a fat new journal for playing in. I am working on laying down a bunch of backgrounds for now so it's easier to come back to a page that already has something on it. I also like that I can take pages out and work on them without having to lug the entire book around. We are in the midst of a snow/ice storm here. I hope wherever you are that you are safe and warm. Tomorrow I will show you the 52 card project I've been working on but haven't had a chance to show you since I've been involved with Lifebook 2014 (which I am behind in) and then jumped in to the 29 faces challenge at the last minute. Thanks for visiting................ jo

The Finale- 29 faces challenge... #28 and OM Goodness We Have to Do One Extra...........

I've been playing lately. Playing with creating this stuff called acrylic skin. The doodling in her face is the skin that I made and cut up and pasted on. This is the first attempt. I'll come back and report more on that later. And for #29 I sat in the car before work with pencil and charcoal. It's a beginning. It's a quick one. I've been watching the activities for a long time over at Paint Party Friday where there's a lot of "cool stuff." (I've just not had the nerve to submit anything.) There is an invitation but somehow I feel like I'm a new comer crashing the party. I'm going to crash it tonight. And also here. This 29 faces challenge has been...... a challenge, pretty much a fun challenge when I didn't take myself too seriously. I think I'm getting better at not doing that. I might come back and do it again. Thanks to Martha. Thanks to those who visited here and took the time to leave a comment. ......... jo P.S Ha ha ha ha ha. I just went to post this to 29 Faces and found that Mr. Linky Widget expired 28 hours ago. Ha ha ha ha.

Two More Faces - 29 faces Challenge - #26 and #27

I'm running out of steam. I think these women look the same. lol. Maybe they're sisters. Maybe one of them got their hair cut. lol. The challenge is nearly over. I showed up. I did the work. It's really 28 faces.

#25 of 29 faces

I took an old photo album page and removed the plastic. I like it.

29 faces Challenge. #'s 23 and 24

OK. I'm feeling the pressure. I think doing an ICAD(index card a day for 60 days) was not as stressful as producing a face for, in this case, 29 days. Actually, there are only 28 days in this month of February this year. Thank goodness. Faces are hard, I think and I am not feeling it tonight. If I do this again I might have to start a month ahead of time. I love Judi Dench and saw a picture in a magazine. I don't know that it looks anything like her, but I think it does maybe a wee bit. The next one is just out of my head. It's ok but I'm not thrilled. Hey! I'm showing up and doing the work. You can tell my inner critic is right in my face tonight so I'm going to tell her to move on.

There Are Faces I Remember..........

In January 2013 I made this- my first attempt at painting a face. She looks a bit "green." Ha Ha. A couple of nights ago I paused my Netflix movie and sketched this actress. One of these days I will learn the basics of what # pencil to use, graphite etc. etc.

A Different Direction

I wasn't happy with the way the faces I showed you in the previous post were laying. I just couldn't seem to make them fit no matter how I rearranged them, but I patiently and painstakingly glued them all down to this huge piece of plywood after spray painting the wood with a black, flat paint. I tried filling in the spaces by experimenting with other collage elements and doodling which still left me feeling uninspired. I tried adding more black paint, sort of weaving in and around the faces to try and give it more of ..... what? I dunno. I thought, maybe it's the black paint. Maybe I need to go with white so I white gessoed on top of the black. No. I then tried a golden yellow. No. I went back to black and that's when I kind of "lost it." All these faces were staring at me!! lol!!I thought maybe I should only be looking at a few, certain faces.(Some of you have to go.) So I mapped out which ones I felt were "calling me" to keep, I dumped water on the ones I would get rid of and started scraping and rubbing the paper off. After working on this for much of the day this weekend, I am left with this. What a mess!!I am turning another direction. I shall see where it takes me. I hope you are out of the cold, and warm wherever you are. Thanks for visiting.........................Jo

Here's Looking at You

Remember all those 5am "Morning Pages" faces I've been doing for a over a year? I decided I need to do something with them so yesterday I started laying them out on a 2 x 3 piece of plywood. I like that some of them are done with pan pastels and some with water color, however, I'm not sure if I should put a spray fixative on the pan pastels ones or if I needed to have had something underneath them to begin with. I have adhered the faces for now with masking tape until I am sure of the lay out. I need to fill in the empty spaces. When I figure out what to do with the pan pastels and the fixative I will feel better when I put a sealant on top. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? I had to chuckle when I was thinking of a title of this piece. How about "Somebody's Watching You, " or All Eyes on YOu. Or "That crowd of People." Ha ha ha .I am sure you could think of a few. Thanks for visiting and stay tuned.

A Year Ago this Month

I had a big piece of...... foam board, I guess you'd call it, on my work table where it'd catch all the spills, wipes, testers, glue and paint blotches. Well, you know what I mean. This was the result of leaving it there for several months at least. I wanted to draw faces. No. I really wanted to paint faces and I did. And then, my inner critic jumped in and told me I didn't know "Jack" about drawing faces, much less how to paint them, and those women looked pretty sorry, if I was asking for an opinion. I wasn't. I slammed the door but knew I would leave this piece behind a few other pieces also waiting to be finished. And there it sat for an entire year as I convinced myself it really was a piece of garbage until a few days ago after I painted my "guardian angel/protector( who is going to keep my inner critic far away from me this year.) and who I discovered in Life Book's 2014 first lesson. I got brave again. I said," I can do this. I CAN do it better than I did before." So I started again. I actually got a bit excited. ha ha ha . I'll keep you posted on the progress. I got a really nice comment from a wonderful artist whose work I have long since admired, whose lovely delicate hand made books and journals, full of birds and faces, have always left me in awe. Seriously, you have to check her out. Her art is simply beautiful. I wish she would do an online workshop on how to make some of these wonderful little books. It was she who gave me the idea of creating art on a tea bag. Consequently, I have a habit now of drying tea bags. Thank you, Kim, for your kind comment. Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone is staying warm.......................xoxoxo Jo

Woman on Cardboard

Ok. It's at the end of a very tiring work day and I cannot think of a grand title for this post so you will have to please accept this pretty shallow post title. If I sat here much longer to think of something more interesting I would surely fall asleep or just dismiss the entire post all together. She started out like this Sorry. The photo is kind of at a wonky angle. And now this.. She's a work in progress. Thanks for stopping in................................jo

Pursuing Portraits

I ran across Pam Carriker's Pursuing Portraits class offering today. She is giving one spot away. You know how I have been fixated on learning to draw faces for how long now? I am entering my name in hopes I might win this spot. It can't hurt to try right? This morning as I was writing morning pages I did not draw a face. I think I am getting bored because I can't seem to do anything but frontal faces. These are the last couple of ones I have have done. I think I might put the pan pastels down and try pencil. I dunno. If you want to check out Pam's info on her class you have to go here Here is today's ICAD. #38 (Index card a day) I really should be including what number it is as I show them to you. I don't know why I haven't done that ongoing. That's it. Short and sweet. ..........Jo

Secretly She Always Wanted...

It's been awhile since I showed you some of my faces..... My faces began as a challenge I started when I was doing art in the morning in the van before work about two years ago. Since then my ritual for drawing faces gradually found their way on to my daily morning pages which I write between 430-5am every morning. Many people have commented that they like the way the writing shows through under the faces but they cannot quite read what was written and was it my intention. Morning Pages, as some of you know, is a tool, in which Julia Cameron has written extensively about. Most of us were introduced to this concept in The Artist's Way, but she carries it on in many of her books after that. Morning Pages, is a steady stream of writing.. writing what ever comes to mind. I have always kept a written journal, but, I have done Morning Pages for at least the last ten years pretty consistently. I have had all kinds of journals for this. Hard bound, blank paged journals, lined journals, fancy covered, wire bound notebooks and cheapo composition notebooks, which is what I have been using for the last several years. When I write I am in a sort of half awake, half asleep state, pillows propped up, pen in hand and I just begin to write." Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. God! I so do not want to get up this morning. Must be it's going to rain today as my head hurts. Blah, blah, blah, Damn neighbors were playing their music so loud blah, blah, blah." As long as I can keep the blah, blah. blahs coming, the pen will keep moving........although sometimes I am aware that I am nodding off in the middle of the sentence and I will write," keep the pen moving or what was it I was complaining about when I felt myself falling back to sleep with my pen in my hand?" You get the picture. I will fill the page and then begin writing on top of what I have already written. The idea is not necessarily to come back and read what I've written or for anyone else, necessarily to read what I've written, but that I feel like I have "dumped" or "poured" or emptied what ever I needed to get out, onto these pages. I've whined, complained, dumped, cursed,spilled my guts, emptied my fears and/or anxieties all over the pages. And some how, it feels right. I feel right. If I don't do my morning pages, I feel something missing. My day doesn't quite feel right. I go get my coffee, come back to bed where I begin to draw these faces on top of these pages. I don't know where the faces come from. They just appear. I am sure that often times the faces will reflect some thing in my mood or state of mind on any given morning. Lately, I have been amusing myself by naming them because they seem to have personalities. OK. I better stop. You may think me really off my rocker at this point. (lol) I give myself another 30-45 minutes of playing with pan pastels or water colors with my faces before I get up and hit the shower. This is how I start my day. This is how I get in my creative time and this is what makes me feel good even if my faces aren't good. It wasn't my intention to talk this much about this, however, I found I had to explain where the writing underneath all the faces came from. On another note........... the ICAD challenge goes on. The bunch I'm showing you were made with the gelli plate to make backgrounds but also the tape transfers. I added my hand carved stamps and washi tape. I hope you like them. This has turned out to be a long post. I hope you enjoyed your stay today. Thank you and please do visit again............. I'm headed over to Glue It Tuesday in hopes I haven't missed the deadline and Carolyn Dube's place for the gelli print party.