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!