You Know it's all about the Face!

Learning to draw faces. Something I've tried before but failed miserably at each time. Partly because I just didn't know how and partly because I gave up.  Until I found a video by Dina Wakley that showed me step by step what I needed to do. So I set a goal for myself. I wouldn't stop until I had drawn 15 faces and if after 15 faces I still felt I just wasn't very good at this then so be it. One of the dangers of watching artist demo videos is you watch someone do this thing that they have done a lot and you expect yourself to be able to do it the first time out. That's just not how it works. Practice makes progress.

So I started drawing faces. My first couple of faces were kind of scary, I even ripped one up so I wouldn't have nightmares. The other bad ones I kept but I'm pretty sure two of them will be extra's on the season premier of Walking Dead this coming Sunday. But I kept drawing faces and I actually started to like what I saw. I made myself put my faces on the refrigerator in my kitchen to publicly announce my lack of fear at attacking this goal. Okay not that big of a deal cause I only have a few people in the house, but still. Then I posted one as the banner on my Facebook page.Then another as a post on my Facebook page and someone actually asked if it was for sale!!! Talk about encouraging!

Anyhow I'm still working on this. I can only draw them straight on and the shading is sometimes a little off but I feel so good. Like I've achieved another milestone in my journey as an artist. Thank you Dina Wakley for being one of my muses and for teaching me to draw faces!

Here are a few of them, Try to guess which one I call the Zombie, which one I call 5 o'clock shadow and which one I call the Alien.  It's all about the progress people! Don't give up even if the faces you draw scare you!

Too bad I can't blog backwards

So let's catch up instead: Still working on my art and upcycling all kinds of stuff. Currently collecting over 200 wine bottles and taking the labels off. This is a slightly time consuming but free way for me to have something to edge my landscaping with.  I recently bought myself a rock tumbler and I've been tumbling my own glass for window projects. I scored a couple hundred PE LPs from a PE teacher and created a tablet stand and some other items by melting the LPs.  So I've been very busy but no so busy I couldn't have posted on my blog! I'm always so impressed by people who blog regularly.

I was published in the fall in Green Craft magazine! I was SO excited. I still am actually. It's amazing how validated it made me feel. I have always wanted to add a little magazine cover over on the side of my blog...and now I have one! Wooohooo!

Right now I am learning how to draw faces. I watched Dina Wakely's video on how to draw a face and have challenged myself to draw and paint a face each day for 15 days. Each face I make is a little easier and I've even gotten better I think at the painting part which is really hard for me for some reason. I'll start posting pictures on here as well as over on my Facebook page so you can see my progress as well.

I'm also doing Documented Life Project again and Inspiration Wednesdays with Donna Downey.  I have so many art muses and I learn so much from all of them!

Finding a Global Solution

Today I found the solution for a global issue. I'm sure my family will be very relieved! What global issue you ask? Well for the last four weeks my house has been over run with globes. I rescued them from a dumpster destination and brought them home about a month ago. I have plans for them, really I do! In the meantime how the heck do I store them so they aren't in the way. I started by taking the globes off the stands, then Steve helped me get the two pieces of the stand apart so the rings and the footing can be stored flat. But what the heck to do with all those globes? Some have been cut in half as part of the process for what I'll be making. But the others I wanted to leave whole. I've had the idea of hanging them but how and where? Today in a moment of clarity inspiration struck! So here is my solution and if I may say so myself it gives my studio another layer of weirdness which you know I love! A perfect mixture of decor and storage.

Globes on top of the shelves in the living room.

And on these shelves.

And in the hallway and dining room too!

                                     

Take a small binder clip and squeeze the metal loop together so you can remove it from the clip.

You are going to use that part of the clip to make the hanger for the globe.

Squeeze the sides together using a pair of needle nose pliers and insert the metal "feet" into the hole on the top of the globe.

Cut a piece of ribbon to the desired length and insert it into your hanger.

Tie the globes to the curtain rod and viola you are done!

Once I start completing the globe projects I promise to post them. Globes are awesome for craft projects!

A DLP-Stencil Girl Blog Hop

I am loving the Documented Life Project! If you haven't joined in yet I highly recommend you do. They posted the other day that they plan to continue in 2015, which I was very excited to hear. This week one of my favorite stencil sites, Stencil Girl Products and the ladies from DLP have paired up for a blog hop! You can check it out here Art to the 5th and here Stencil Girl Talk. Lots of wicked talked people between those two sites and a sale on stencils! The posts will feature one of the 5 ladies from Art to the 5th showing how they use a stencil from Stencil Girl in their DLP journal. And since I haven't posted recently here are a few photos of my DLP journal.

I'm a Part of The Documented Life Project

 

I can't wait for my Moleskine to get here so I can start!  I am looking forward to not only getting myself more organized but also being able to create on the go. The project is open to anyone interested in making an artsy planner and there are challenges each week. I plan to go back and do the challenges that I missed. Roben Marie Smith has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I've followed her online and watched her videos to learn many of the techniques I use in my mixed media work. The project was created by a friend of hers Lorraine Bell who would carry three different books with her wherever she went and decided to combine the three into one. Brilliant! All the women in the ART5 group are extremely talented. I can't wait to learn from all of them. You really should check out this project AND all the blogs related to it. Good stuff!

 

http://www.arttothe5th.com/the-documented-life-project-details/



A Great Resource for Art and Other Stuff

I discovered this site called American Science and Surplus about 6 months ago. I LOVE this website they have everything from the really strange to the really useful. I can't rave about this place enough. I even got Christmas presents for the kids there. I've bought this and that, but the best part is so many of the things can be used for art supplies. I have to limit myself when I order or I would order one of everything! Check out my video about my last order and how I plan to use what I got. I hope you visit the American Science and Surplus website, I guarantee you will find SOMETHING you absolutely must have right now! Perhaps a box of twenty erasers shaped like UPS trucks?

Bling and String on My Hearts

A couple of weeks ago I pinned this idea for making paper mache hearts. http://www.craftycupid.com/index.php/cc/entry/mache-mixed-media-heart-tutorial/

It looked pretty easy and fun so I decided to give it a try. I found a heart cookie cutter buried in a kitchen drawer. Those who know me know I would never be accused of being a baker, so I was surprised I had one. It was larger than the one in the tutorial but it worked for me. I traced and cut out my hearts. Instead of the glue used in the tutorial I used hot glue, I'm not a patient person. I was able to quickly make my heart paper sandwich. I used the same brown craft paper torn into strips for my paper mache part as well. I had a lot of it because I save everything from packages I get from online orders. That brown paper comes in handy! Instead of making the flour mixture I just mixed some white glue with warm water. Wrapping the paper was probably the hardest part of the project because of the odd shape. Getting around the point and around the curve were a little tricky but I got the hang of it by the third heart.

Remember what I said about not being a patient person, it took two days for them to dry! Argh! I just wanted to get painty and creative and the little suckers wouldn't dry. I used a space heater to speed up the process. I guess they would have taken even more days to dry if I hadn't done that.

So finally I got to paint and embellish. Mine are a bit more simple than the ones in the tutorial but I really love the way they came out.

The blue/green one has a coat of Martha Stewart glitter paint and several buttons attached with jewelry adhesive. You can't see it at all in this picture but it really sparkles.

On the red/purple one I used a red Prismacolor marker to deepen the red in some areas. Then I highlighted the wrinkles made by the paper with a gold metallic crayon. I love the way that came out. The gold with the red and purple is really rich looking. I glued on three heart shaped jewels with jewelry glue.

The orange one I stamped with red Stazon using a Stampendous stamp. Then I wrapped it with cotton thread and three orange beads. This one is going in as part of a contest on the Creative Jumpstart I'm doing this month.

This was a fun project. I would definitely do this again with different shapes. I'm thinking birds and sea stars maybe. I just need to remember to leave enough time for several days of drying!