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.

Faces and Lifebook 2014

So, after I came down from learning about "my face" being published in the recent Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, I got back to work. I'm working on faces in Lifebook this year, so I'm including one of these as part of my 29 faces count. WE started this lesson with playing with spray inks which I dearly love. They are lusciously vibrant in my opinion. This is the result of the preliminary lesson. The face followed. And this face I did probably 6 mos ago at least. It was a spur of the moment thing on a piece of corrugated cardboard. I reworked the face a bit and then wanted to frame it or mount it but it was such an odd nonstandard size. So, I dared myself to cut it up and rework it a bit more. It now looks like this. I collaged a piece of wood and then put her on top. The colors look different in this as the photo is taken in the evening hours, but I think I lost some of the turquoise blue so I need to find a way to get that back. It's in progress at any rate. Thanks for stopping by.

I Must Confess

I got my issue yesterday and normally would have devoured it within a few hours. I was way too tired last night. This evening I got an email from my friend Robin who said she'd gotten her issue today and "yay for you!." I responded with "I have no idea what you are talking about." I was getting her email on my phone so I hadn't scrolled down to see that my art was on the page. I grabbed my copy and there it was!! I had forgotten about submitting this and today of all days when I was dragging my you know what around this was a big pick me up. Here's a closeup of what I did submit. So, I'm cheating a wee bit for today's face. I'm giving you this one instead- from October 2013. Thank you Robin for this alert. Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to comment.

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.

Days 17 and 18

I think I may be getting a bit braver or is it a bit more brave with shading in this one against a gelli plate print and my collage papers on top. And this one.......... well, I really was trying to be brave with a side view attempt. She's out of my head...... and she's a bit wonky and whimsical at the same time. Well, her eye is a bit wonky. I think I started this on the 14th wanting to do something different with hearts and then I journaled in the background and then threw on some gesso to cover most of it up. I kind of like her the more I look at her. She's different. There are some amazing faces out there. I think you can jump in anytime if you want to play. Thanks for visiting.

More Faces - 14, 15, and 16

I was fooling around and trying to do a whimsical, childlike drawing. And this one is a result of my sketchbook turned into an art journal, where I was using up a lot of torn paper. The face was originally done on a "morning pages" page, with watercolors, and then cut out and pasted on to the art journaling page. And this last one was drawn on to the background page of the art journaling book, where I just couldn't resist all the roses which seem to be perfectly placed in her hair. I used an old Simplicity sewing pattern and pieces of paint stained waxed or deli paper in spots.

Shoveling and Plugging Along

I shoveled a portion of my driveway and scraped about 6 inches of snow off my car today as we are on the second day of a winter snow storm. Here are another couple of faces toward my 29 day challenge. Nothing too exciting but I did the work......... barely.

Something Different

Yesterday I was feeling a bit bored with the faces I've been doing. There's so much diversity in this challenge of creating 29 faces for this month. I've also been doing some drawing of faces in my Lifebook 2014 class as well, so yesterday I found myself playing with some cheapo chalk and this is what I came up with. In a relatively short amount of time, I might add. I don't know whether that's good or bad. I think it turned out ok and I had a blast and that was most important. I want to share more with you toward the end of the week about what I've been doing in Lifebook 2014 but if you want to know more you can check it out here. See you later....................jo

29 faces - #8, 9 and 10

OK. I feel like I'm stuck in a rut. I do want to do something different. And I will next time.

More Making Faces

I seem to have a thing for pink hair.......It's not a prize winning face but I did show up and I did have fun.. Hope you're having a good weekend.....................jo

Words Can Sometimes Hit You in Soft Places

When I create it's often to get something out of my system. When I write my 'Morning Pages' most every morning for the last 20 years of my life I write a steady stream of almost unconscious pouring of what ever comes to mind. I keep the pen moving. I don't stop to reread or scratch out. If I am not ready to proceed to the next sentence or thought I will write blah, blah, blah, blah, blah even for the next two lines. When I have reached the bottom of the page I will start again at the top and write on top of what I've already written. I just keep writing until I am finished. It's almost as if my hand or pen has taken over. I am not planning or thinking ahead about what comes next. The words just kind of flow out of me/ my head, my gut and onto the page. Since I want to make the most of my time for art, I started my practice of drawing faces on top of those pages. Some faces with water color, some with pan pastel, some with just a pencil or pen. I noted that depending on how I felt on any given morning, the face was sometimes a reflection of me, at that moment. Maybe I was stirring something deep down in my gut that was really bugging me. Maybe I was angry. It is my feeling that we have been programmed to create happy art. That means that all our faces have to be happy faces, even though we're struggling, hurting, screaming inside. Part of what prompted me to write this post is seeing Julie Fei Fan Balzer's post today on art journaling- the other side of it. The heavy stuff. The ways in which we can write stuff down and cover it up, with paint. With gesso. With bigger words, with faces. Why are we so afraid to show our vulnerable sides? Does it make us any less of a person? I think it takes a lot of courage for someone to show the sides of us that are not always happy and in control and I've always got to have it together superficialness. Life is not like that and we are human. After I had done several months worth of writing and faces on top of writing, I had to laugh as I viewed each face. I could almost know exactly how I was feeling at that time, that morning. I've put many of those faces in a cheapo hard bound sketchbook that I have since declared as an art journal. Lucy is standing by. In this case, I covered up the words with a word stencil right in the gesso and then added some papers and my homemade stamps. I could add more to it but for now it is what it is. I feel strongly that art is not always meant to be pretty or happy. Life is not like that. Reality is dirty, and heart wrenching and ugly, and working through that with art is what saves us sometimes. Which reminds me of yet another post I read today, quite ironically, and which hits home for me. Jenny Doh has a segment on her site that focuses and features people who know that creating art has saved them. And you can view Julie's post on "the heavy side" of art journaling here. I know this is a long winded post. It was supposed to be only for today's face for the 29 faces challenge. The words in both those posts just hit me in soft places. ...........Jo I am linking also to Balzer Designs Art Journal Every Day.

More Faces- Continued

Continuing on with the face challenge, here is one more day. Another page in the altered book project. This face is kind of strange. I like it that way. :) And speaking of faces.......... remember this piece I showed you a while ago? This is piece of foam board that was on my work table for at least 6 mos. The catch all, catch everything piece that I decided I wanted to begin to draw/paint faces on. It began like this. And they first appeared like this. I thought they looked ill(lol) and I got disgusted so I left them alone... for nearly a year. I got brave again. They became this. And at present they look like this. I still have a long way to go, however, I do feel I am making some small progress. I'm just going to keep showing up and doing the work. Practice, practice, and more practice. You can learn more about 29 faces and see lots more cool faces here. Thanks for visiting ...............jo

Pink Hair- Day 5 of 29 Faces

I always wished to have the nerve to color my hair pink. I'm just playing with color here and trying not to have the same skin tones and colors in every face. I need to work on more shading and depth etc. Perhaps it will come. This is not going to be graded. Right? And like most everything, it has to be practiced. So, I shall keep showing up to show you the good, the ok and not so ok stuff. ................jo

Making Faces - Yay for Me and 29 Faces

I say" Yay for Me" because I have been somewhat technologically challenged when it comes to navigating my way around the template, layout etc. When it comes to adding or subtracting stuff. Kind of like math. lol, it's not always been my thing. But ok. I couldn't help myself. My friend Robin appears to be having so much fun with this challenge, in fact everyone appears to be having so much fun making faces. The fact that I was able to add the darn gadget to my blog is a sign that I was meant to do it. I joined today. Remember the composition notebook of In the Van faces? Well, I've "graduated" to altering a hard bound book I picked up at a thrift store back in December. This has become my new In the Van Faces book. So, it seems right on time for this 29 day challenge. Here are my first four day of faces. I'm sorry that the photography is not great in some of these photos. Alright then. Now let me go tackle this "Linky " business and check out all the other faces................ Jo

New Mail Art

Here's a few pieces of mail art I'm sending out. Which one do you like the best?

Taking Stock

Since the New Year began I am taking stock in just how much art I have made this past year. My intention this year was to be a more regular blogger. I'm not off to a great start, although I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I think it's important to decide when to blog and when to create. Working a full time job sometimes gets in the way. I've come a long way in several years when I first jumped in to this blogging cold turkey. Trial and error, lots of errors. I have a lot of respect for people that can blog daily. It does take more than planning and organizing. I've gotten better about the frequency and have learned to navigate my way around, and with the help of a couple of good blogging/artist buddies have been able to put up some decent posts. It's always a delight for me to visit Hanna who portrays an abundance of energy in her blog, but it was her recent post on why we should acknowledge our list of achievements for the year, that guided me to do this. After I wrote it down I felt good. Here's my list of some things that stood out for me, with some pictures. In February of last year I completed a collaborative work with Stargardener (aka Teresa Robinson)who's blog has always seemed to appear to me at just the right moment. She sent me a homemade journal which has all kinds of "neat" prompts. I gifted this book back to Teresa. She was delighted. I sent out a lot of mail art last year. One of my pieces was published as an "inchie" on the back of this wonderful magazine and as of this post I am scrambling to find the photo. So much for being organized. I remember being so tickled when I recieved notification that it would be in the 4th issue and I cannot at this moment find my folder that houses this photo. Am I getting long winded? I doodled and collaged and painted on pumpkins. I completed a very large canvas. I altered a children's board book from The Dollar Store. I cut out and made little wooden houses.. I completed 60 days worth of art on an index card for the second year in a row over at Daisy Yellow. Tammy Garcia is another one of my favorite people for inspiration. I also drew a lot of faces last year. Ok. I want to say at this point that I am tired just posting this. I did create a lot of art in 2013. What now? This blog may undergo some changes in the coming months. I want to keep creating larger canvases; I want to pile enough up to submit for gallery showing. I want to submit more of my work for publication. I want keep getting my work out there. I want to thank you for supporting me along the way, by your following and or leaving comments, which make a person feel very good. Wishing you all good things this year.................Big Hugs.......... Jo