Faces in journal. Continued.

 

Do you recognize anyone here?

Faces in journal

one face a day.  This is so much fun. You will notice my color pallette has a limited number of colors and there is very little shading. It's because I am using Posca acrylic paint pens on muxed media paper.   I like to select a different group of colors each day.   

 

Faces. In journal. Pushimg the limit.

 

Faces Sept journal

 How many ways are there to paint a human face?  I think there are no limits. 

Abstract faces in watercolor

 Here are a couple abstract faces in th journal, done in watercolor. 

Abstract faces art journal

 I have 18 abstract faces on display at Stockton Art league's Elsie Mae Goodwin Gallery for the months of August and September.  After the dog home  hospice was behind me, and the new little sweetheart is settling in, I needed a new project.  I had a new Strathmore mixed media journal, and thought I'd do a series of abstract faces in this smaller size. 5.5 x 8.5 inches.  I did the first one on August 15th.   Because it's a mixed media paper, I could use acrylics, watercolors, colored pencils, or any other supplies.  I started with Posca Pens to test the paper.  The first pages I gessoed first, thinking it was probably necessary.  I will be posting more pictures from this journal which is almost full already. 

Remembering Nikki and Lulu

Lulu on left, the adorable but wild problem child. And Nikki the sweet people lover.    Gone but never will be forgotten.    
 

A new love

 Nikki and Lulu my last faithful pets, within the last two months had health issues that could not be resolved.  They have joined my heavenly dog pack.  They had been with me for over a dozen years.  I miss them terribly. 

I found a rescue dog online that I arranged to adopt.   This is Rosie.  With the most terrible backstory, she needed a quiet stable landing spot.  She found it here.   

9 lbs of sweetness. Has no social skills, has not made a sound in first 5 days, but is housebroken.  Hmmm... she is a puzzle.  

She was a stray who needed emergency surgery and 2 month recovery period before she was ready to offer for adoption. I saw her within two hours of the post on their website and was first to make contact and interview.   My artwork is on hold as I am devoting a lot of time socializing her and getting her to walk on a leash.  We have vet appointment tomorrow to look at her little legs. My guess is she was in a puppy mill kept in a crate.  She looks very young but the surgeon says she has already had several litters of pups.   

Every day her legs are getting stronger. She can now manage 5 steps to my porch.  First day it was impossible for her.   Today she has gone up and down the stairs many times on her own without help or coaxing.  

She spotted a lizard under my shed and later through the fence. It's one that Lulu had watched all summer.  Rosie does not know what toys are for, or how to play...but she loves to hunt lizards.   I have seen two tiny ones and two large ones that she hasnt spotted yet.  She is obsessed, I can see by the fun she is having running from side to side of shed hoping to catch it. 

It's a big difference from living in a crate.   Wish us well.  

Weaving on cardboard loom, wall hanging

 Inspired by one ball of new yarn, I dug out a bag of old fibres that I fashioned into this

weaving, which was done on a cardboard loom. See previous post.  

Here is a close up.  

Weaving on cardboard loom

 I saw how to do  this on you tube after someone gave me a few big bags of yarn.  As I dont crochet or knit, I needed to find something to do with the few pieces I fell in love with.  

The pinks and white were in the new stash.  I already had the rest.  What a fun project. I had my mixed media group make their looms at home and then shared the new stash with those that were interested.     It's all gone now.  Adopted by traditional knitters.   

This is the softest piece I have ever done.  I plan to mount it in a shadow box with glass front so it won't catch dust. 

On the town with New Yorker

 Shes ready to step out..

While she is 99% done, i have a mess to clean up. Little scraps are scattered everywhere. It's like she was in a parade with confetti raining down on her. And I am the street sweeper.   This took 10 days.    I bet I will find stray scraps for a lot longer than that.    

New Yorker, paper collage

 I have made big strides with my new. challenge.  I tore strips on an angle from a New Yorker magazine and alternated them directionally on the canvas to give the impression of a bulky knit sweater. 

Then worked on the scarf.

I hope to finish her tomorrow. 

Torn paper 80s lady revisited

 I painted this watercolor lady in the 1980s. I matted it and propped it up on a buffet.  But as time went by, she ended up in the closet with others.  But I came across her the other day when I was looking for an old  beach girl acrylic painting that I thought would be interesting done in torn paper collage.   Change of plan.   Happens often.   So, now it is a work in progress.  

Now it looks like this. 

I have not figured out how to give her a sweater.  But it is fun having a challenge.  I will post again soon. I gave myself a week to finish this,  not remembering that I signed up for a two day art party weekend online which starts tomorrow at 8 a.m.    

I plan to finish this today, however I can always tweak it next week. 

Art aprons

 My old art aprons are getting a bit tired.  I always wear them for painting, art, floor, walls, flower pots, table,  golf cart, or anything else.  

So I decided to paint a new one.  Knowing that painting on a dark fabric requires a white under the other colors to make them stand out, I did a quick background. I had my colors at hand waiting for their turns.   But once I had the white gesso undercoat down, I adjusted my plan and shaded it with Paynes grey and called it done.  At least for now.  I will soon be wiping my hands and spilling and spattering other colors on it, so eventually it will be a messy working artist apron.    

Two old art aprons on left.

Heres the new undercoat.  

Picasso faces series

 

Here are three new ones.

Although it is a series based on subject, I experiment with color combinations as well as shapes and sizes of facial features.  I am about to take some to a local gallery for a two month show.  Hoping they will sell, or at least make people smile. 

A favorite fish project

 My friend Cheri started an arts and crafts group at her Sr. Mobile home park nearby.   She invited me to join the group.  Last week I went and observed.  What a nice group of gals ages 55 to 85.  Mostly  younger ones who are newly retired and looking for activities and socializing.   Many are really creative thinkers.  

This week Cheri provided the fish that we have done at our mixed media group a couple times. It's new to these gals.  They jumped right in and each one created a unique art piece.  And chatted and shared thoughts and ideas. Very successful project and meeting.  Here are mine created yesterday. 

The bottom one was done with oil pastels.  The middle and top ones are done with Posca paint pens  and craft paints.

More abstract faces

 I have neglected my blog for some time now so will post a couple of pictures. 

Kits - kit 2 Sloth

 

This kit came with same supplies as previous, but had only four liquid watercolors, black, honey brown, sepia, and emerald green.  They honey brown and emerald green were both very yellow.  I guess if I had watched tutorial video I would have known that.  As they are staining colors its hard to blend directly on paper.   This is my second attempt. I texted it to her and she loves it, so I will drop it off later today.   

I am keeping the kits to show the mixed media group next month, and the senior art group that meet Sunday in the park.

Would I want to do more kits? Not really.  But it was a challenge and a favor for a friend, so I call it time well spent. 

Kits, kit 1

 A friend was given two kits for watercolors.  She is not a painter but an avid crafter, so she asked me to paint them for her.  With extra time during pandemic, I thought, why not?

They are made by Letsmakeart.com.  There are tutorials online but I skipped them.  Kit comes with full size design to trace, tracing paper, two sheets of student grade paper, liquid paints, 2 brushes, written directions and a small color print of image .     

I started the cowboy boots painting first as it was my friends 

least favorite.  Tracing, easy peasy.   Painting not as easy.  These paints are staining and cannot be lifted as my own watercolors. But in the end results were acceptible.   This one came with 5 colors.  Tahoe blue, fuschia, burnt orange, deep yellow, and amethyst.   Without watching the video, I was on my own mixing colors.  Really challenging.   

I can see why a crafter could be put off by this kit.  The colors given are not evident in the finished work. Generally most crafters but the colors they want and do not mix their own.  That's what turned her off.  But for people who work with watercolors and like the challenge of mixing and blending colors it can be fun.    

Out to Tea

 The little coastal village scene I did months ago needed something to finish it off.   I was cleaning out  a drawer and found tissue paper with teacups.  May as well use it somewhere... but where?

This piece was compositionally a bust.   So I fiddled around with it and am now happier.  It will be a birthday gift for a friend.  

I converted the building on the right into a tea shop and the delivery guy just showed up with the cups.  Meanwhile some vintage book characters now inhabit the village. 

The cat came back.

 

Finished at last.  I am very pleased with it now. It's ready to hang.    

Collaged cat

 

This is not quite done.   Since collaging the gull shown in previous post, and with studio littered in bits of paper, I figured it would be a good time to do a cat mosaic.     

Kitty kitty. Or is it?

 I challenged my mixed media group to try the torn paper collage cat technique i showed a few posts back.  I wanted to make another one and did the background.  

Heres where serendipity stepped in and took over.  I had a scrap on my work table, an old photocopy of a photo I took of a sea gull years ago on the coast.  It had fallen out of something I was moving.   I had once played with it in photoshop and posterized it.  That converted it to planes of shades of grey.  

 I placed it on the background with the radiating rays behind it.  I decided instead of painting it I would collage it, cut it out and mount it over the background. 

I loved the gull, but it kind of got lost against such a bright busy background.  Adding a thin wash of transparent white helped.  But by now I had a creative rush of ideas, so this where it took me.  Lol.    

A rose by any other name

Roses have been patient long enough, but now bursting with blooms.    These are 8 inches across. I dont put them in vases because the blooms are so heavy.  Floating them in soup bowls lets me look at the face of the rose.  These were oast their prime when I cut them but now 4 days later they still look lovely.

Driving around the neighborhood I see so many beautiful roses, all varieties and colors. An awesome springtime display. 

 

Learning from You. Tube

I am not a techie, but at one time I was very much on the forefront of computer technology.  I had two forces that kept me there.  One was a job that required attendance at many workshops, and a couple coworkers that needed support .  My ace in the hole was a techie brother who shared information freely.  Since retirement my skills have lagged far behind new advances.  

When I started blogging I used the blog as a teaching tool, as well as a personal journal.   In those days there wasnt as much ready access to altered art and particularly altered book tutorials.  My goodness how You Tube has changed that.   It seems you can find tutorials on almost every aspect of life, from art, music, auto repair, cooking,   My youngest son does tricky car repairs and maintenance by learning from YT.   

I decided this week I would like to do a torn paper collage of a cat.  One evening I looked on You Tube for inspiration.  I found a tutorial for K thru 5 (kids) that looked so interesting I watched it through.  I decided it would make an interesting challenge for my mixed media group.   

This starts with tearing strips from magazines and adhering them in a radiating from center pattern.  I love torn paper and have never thought to do a pattern like this with magazine strips.  So far, so good.   

But now for the icing on the cake.   Drawing large cats eyes and a nose on black paper with oul pastels, cutting them out and placing them on the background.  All of a sudden its a cat.  Jolly fun.

Thank you You Tube and contributors who share your tips and techniques online. 

Working through sadness,

 

Yesterday drving home from the vets office, I turned and looked at the back seat of my car.  A happy memory of three dog beds side by side filling the space, each with a happy dog ready for a ride, eagerly and with some excitement.  Buddy, the elderly gentleman was happy to curl up and sleep,  paid no attention to anything outside,  Nikki in the center to help protect the old fella from Lulu who in her terrier excitement would occasionally need to have a better view of the outside world from another vantage point,  and might take it upon herself to  bully her way to sharing someone elses space unless restrained by anchored leash and harness.   Those were such happy times. Trips to the dog park. Trips to our mountain get away, or trips to La Selva Beach.  We were a very mobile group. 

After Buddy passed, we occasionally would fill that space with Rosemarys little fella, Tuff.  He kept to himself, as he was very self possessed and gentlemanly.  My girls liked him.  Rosemary and I would spell off driving on trips to the beach.   After Tuff joined Buddy in doggy heaven, I never had three beds in the back seat again. 

 With the pandemic year we have been home bound nearly 100 percent of the time, but a month or so ago, there was a beautiful sunny day following a dreary cold winter,  so I bundled up my little companions and they again took their positions in their back seat beds, with Nikki in the center and Lulu going back and forth  from one side to the other,  looking at everything as Nikki curled up and napped.  We got out in the country and walked along the roadside near on orchard where they sniffed and darted about on their leashes happy to be smelling unfamiliar scents and feeling  the soon to be coming spring in the air.  

Today I need to put away another dog bed, as Nikki is with Buddy and Tuff, and only Lulu is left to travel on with me.   Its a sad sad time, a time to shed tears and remember the good times. 

Nikki loved everyone.  If there was an empty lap in the room, she would find it.  She didnt lick anyone, just wanted to sit there quietly.  If you would pet her, she was in heaven. And if you stopped she'd  raise a little paw and tap you until you resumed.   She had favorite people, although in a pinch any lap would do.  My son Matt, granddaughter Candis who went with me to pick out Nikki at the shelter, grandsons, my best friends the Jacksons who would share their meals with her and always had welcoming laps, and Rosemary who brought doggie treats,  were among of her favorites.   

When we had visitors she would pick a new lap over mine.  My lap was her favorite place in the garden and in her favorite chair in the studio, by a south facing window drenched in sunlight. She couldnt get enough sun. She would lie down on the hot concrete on the patio. Normally she would not sit on anything cold. Only on carpets, furniture or benches or sunny spots.   

I will miss my treasured little lady.  The only time she would display silliness was at dinner time..    Is anyone hungry? I would ask, anyone want some dinner?   She would dash  off the other direction and grab  her tattered chewed up teddy bear and toss it around and bring it to me.  She did this from the day I got her, a silly and curious habit.  I had seen her do this at the shelter.   

 I will miss my dear sweet girl.   She loved riding in the golf cart and always had her bed on the seat next to me.  She never barked, but looked around eagerly at everything, cocking her head and sniffing the air. .  Quail, geese, an occasional cat, people walking, other elderly quiet dogs in golf carts  kept her interested.  She was also my companion/date at outdoor karioke at clubhouse lawn.  We stayed in golf cart due to social distancing.  She would sit, all alert and watch and listen.  

Lulu cannot take part in all activities as she is my wild child. Barks and lunges at everything that moves.  I have scars from restraining her.   And she nips.   Polar opposite personality from Nikki.   

 

Its a wrap.

Using leftover coils from a past project, I set a goal to use them up.  First I did a stitched bowl on newer sewing machine.  It did not feed through well and caused eye and neck strain.  So next I tried a different way.  Using a hot glue gun, I wound the coils over a protein powder  container.  It used 10 of the smaller dimension glue stick sticks and the some Aileens tacky glue on edge of lid.    Now I have a cannister.    That matches the bowl. 

A poem for March.

 

Never Mind, March

by Annette Wynne

Never mind, March, we know
When you blow
You're not really mad
Or angry or bad;
You're only blowing the winter away
To get the world ready for April and May.

This year I dont have my usual patch of poppies blooming under mailboxes.  They came up on schedule but then a state fire inspector came nosing around neighborhood and complained that view of the fire hydrant was obscured and it had to be cleared.  So, I complied.    

I have more poppies that dont get as much sun so they have not bloomed yet, but soon my front garden will be ablaze in bright orange poppies dancing in the wind.