LB2016 : Smiling heart

This was a Life Book 2016 lesson with Angela Kennedy. I initially thought I wouldn't do this lesson and would just watch the videos to see how she uses coloured pencils. But once I watched, I decided I wanted to try out a few of her techniques. 
First applied white gesso mixed with cheap black acrylic and made marks with paint brush. Quick and effective and a departure for me who loves a busy/collaged background but it's very dark (spoiler alert - I don't leave the background alone!)

After dry I can start sketching in the girls' outline but because the background is too dark for her face base I applied some more white gesso followed by some portrait pink acrylic. Face sketched and some colour blocking here. 

I've been using coloured pencils quite a bit in my faces lately for shading - a technique I've been learning from Effy Wild in the Facing Forward class. Angela has a slightly different approach, blending darker colours with a lighter pencil colour. Unfortunately I don't have light pencils, but I used transparent zinc white paint (as discussed here) for blending. I did some work with some of my water-soluble pencils too - the cheeks went a bit bright but were also saved with the zinc white. In the end, you have to use what you've got or you'll just end up buying endless supplies!  My face shading colours (Faber-Castell Polychromos brand) are 4 different browns and I also have a black and white (used on the dress, sleeves, heart below). The brighter colours (green eyes, pink cheeks and lips) are Derwent Inktense - once they are water activated they are permanent.  

Bit more face detailing and started to add some pencil into her hair too. Pretty happy so far but I feel she needs something else...

Time to add some sparkle. Metallic rub-ons are creamy and grab texture on the page. The metallic pen is a favourite Sakura Gelly roll.

Although I admire Angela's more simple style, my girl needed "Shine". Added gold through stencil to her dress and finishing background touches with corrugated card pressed in gold paint.

Click on the photo to see it larger, or go HERE to see my Flickr album of all my Life Book 2016 projects. You can see all my posts about Life Book this year HERE.
If you're wondering abou Life Book, Tam has just released a FREE Life Book Taster HERE. It's a FULL lesson from the beginning of the year and includes a meditation, videos that you can download and keep, plus fully detailed PDF. It's a great example of the kind of lesson you get from Tam - almost monthly. This is a photo of her project : 

and this was my version from January

Sign up for Life Book 2017 HERE and there's a 20% off coupon anyone can use this year!

LB2016 : Reaching around and from within

At last a chance to do another lesson from Life Book 2016. This one is from Roben-Marie Smith and came from August where the theme was Growth and Transformation and featured a vase of flowers. This was a fun class of layers and was the perfect subject for today - warm and feeling properly like Spring :-)

I enjoy taking the progress photos and seeing the different stages of a project. 

I enjoyed adding the final touches with black, white and metallic pens but didn't feel the need to add any words this time. 

Click on the photo to see it larger, or go HERE to see my Flickr album of all my Life Book 2016 projects. You can see all my posts about Life Book this year HERE.
Check out my previous post for a prize draw from Roben-Marie for her latest course and a special deal for Life Book 2017.

Things you might like...

Long weekend for us this weekend - Hooray! Going to be busy but a fun one I hope. Thought I'd share some stuff you might like to share in too : 
Roben-Marie Smith has a new workshop coming out and a VERY generous giveaway to go with it. Go HERE for that.

Alisa Burke also has a new class called "Hoop It" and a giveaway - go HERE to find out more and for a chance to win one of 5 free spots (only US$15 if you don't win) : 

Hanna has another International Postcard swap happening - all the details HERE. 

You need to sign up BEFORE November 8 2016 and be ready to send 10 postcards by November 11th. I did this a couple of years ago. For inspiration see what I sent HERE and some of what I received HERE. 

Time to start thinking about classes for 2017! Highly recommended for your consideration by me : 

My Life Book 2016 posts are HERE - sign up for 2017 HERE and there's a 20% off coupon anyone can use this year!

I've been loving Effy Wild's classes too - Click the titles to see my blog posts about Facing Forward II and Book of Days. BOD currently available for last quarter of this year HERE  (then you'd get an alumni discount on BOD 2017)

 Facing Forward II details HERE

I also keep a list of cheap and free online classes available HERE - will be updating that in December/January so if you know of anything that should be included that isn't already on the list, please let me know.

Hope you have a happy and creative weekend wherever you are.

FFII : Week 2

Another face from the lovely Effy's 8-week online class Facing Forward II : the things we need to hear. I am loving that each face focuses on a different technique with a diverse range of mediums. I posted a face from Book of Days lesson last time - you may have noticed I'm a little obsessed with creating faces at the moment! In case you are wondering, Facing Forward lessons are breakout sessions designed to supplement the BOD experience with intensive practice in a particular theme (in this case faces and affirmations), or to provide those who do not wish to commit to a year long journey with a way to enjoy BOD in a smaller time frame. I am loving both, and there is no time limit because you have access to both class experiences indefinitely. 
This time I decided to do a double spread - although Effy's example included more feathers in her hair, in the initial sketch videos, she talked about the idea of using her hair as journaling blocks. I decided I loved that for my affirmation. Began with drawing the face on the more blank side of my spread this time - I think I'll like the background text to make the hair side more interesting.

So far so good, but when I tried to use the same hair colour for face shading, I just ended up making her look bruised!

Tried to take her back to a more even skin tone

Went back to start with adding white highlights and decided to work on her eyes to get some beauty there and then I couldn't stop and brought back some much softer pinks and I'm happy to keep working on the whole spread now.

After my initial struggles with her face I enjoyed every bit of this spread from the feather detailing to the "hair"/veil and affirmation doodling, and finishing with the splattery cosmos. Click on any photo to see it up closer.

See all the blog posts about the faces I've created in this class HERE. See my Flickr album for all my art from Book of Days and Facing Forward II classes with Effy HERE. 

BOD : Reverence

I have been really caught up in my Facing Forward lessons (8 weeks of faces and affirmations with Effy) but I really wanted to do this Book of Days lesson from Week 31 (early August). It's another face, but a different method. Effy talked a lot about reverence in this lesson. Thinking about how it feels to you - what creates a sense of reverence in you - a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe....I always circle back to the sea as a place which always feels sacred to me - it rejuvenates, fills me up, gives me back my perspective, calms me. So that's where I started for my background and her hair inspiration

And then it was into the details

She looks contemplative and peaceful to me. CLick on any photo to see it larger. See my Flickr album for all my art from Book of Days and Facing Forward II classes with Effy HERE. 
Book of Days is a year-long mix of weekly classes, prompts and inspiration. Join us for the last quarter of the year, October 1st to December 31st 2016. Tuition includes access to alumni pricing for next year's BOD, should you choose to return (a value of $60 off the regular price!)

 

Teaching in November

So excited that I will be teaching 3 classes in November. They are all local - first up is a 2-hour night class for our library's Local History week. Last year I taught a collage class called Bringing history alive artfully. This year the theme is "From Past To Present" and I will be teaching a lesson based on this journal page from my last year's daily journal : 

For students who came last time, this will be similar techniques but with the introduction of stencils and paints for some extra layering options. This is the sample page from 2015 with a couple of additions

Last year, even the students who had little experience of collage went home with a lovely base piece at the end of the evening. If you're a local, you could be part of this class. It's on Tuesday night, 1st November. For enquiries and bookings contact Heritage Team, Second Floor, Central Library

I recently spoke at a couple of local quilt clubs and from both of them the committees have asked me to teach their members - and happily it's 2 different classes. First my mixed media fabric banner - an original project that started with some of my grandmother's fabric serviettes.

And secondly, Star Books. 

There are quite a few instructions on the internet for this, but of course I have my own spin on how to fill them with inspirational and meaningful imagery and embellishments.
I'll try & remember to take photos of the class work so I can share what happens.  Hope you're managing to fit some creativity into your week. I'd love to hear what you're currently inspired by.