Life Book Week 6 Spray Inks

This weeks lesson was by Tam and focused on using spray inks such as Dylusions. I decided to make my own inks using pigment ink crystals and water and they seem to have given me a similar result. I wanted to create hair with stars and while Tam used a stencil for her flowery hair, I decided to use stamps that I'd made. I tried to graduate the colour from the vivid ink to a muted softer shade using chalks. I wanted my face to look skywards and spent some time thinking about feature placement and the angle of the neck. I do seem to be getting better at this...

As usual the camera doesnt do justice to the colours or pick up the glimmers of the mica paint I used in the hair.

Note to self.... Seal chalk with fixative before drawing over as managed to smudge lead and chalk all over the face!








Tam gave us a composition warm up to get use to the ink qualities and to learn about the rule of thirds and hot spots for placing key features. Especially loved the Autumnal colours as they reminded me of beautiful leaves.

Life Book Week 5 Candy Diva Marieks Blokland.

This was such a fun project! The features of the basic head were exaggerated and completely none proportional. I went for a liquorice wheel hair do with a Candy floss top knot. The background was particularly inspiring with many layeers of medium and paint. This was my first experience with black gesso and I loved the almost chalkboard texture that it gave me to begin with. She is simply funky...

My Candy Diva

Life Book Week 4 Kelly Hoernig

                                                                For Life Book's week 4 , we had to create a multi layered journal page using three of our favourite things; I chose driftwood, shells and a mermaid. I especially liked using scrim like a net under the faux wood, which was made by distressing a piece of thick textured paper. The shells came from Portugal and I dotted the piece with pearl beads. The larger quote was by Anais Nin. Everyone who did this exercise, couldnt believe how much 'stuff' was got out and the mess we made.

Week 4 Ocean

Prismacolour pencil crayons with Suzi Blu

This is my first attempt at a Suzi Blu face, shaded using Prismacolour. The exercise is from Mixed Media Alchemy, Workshop1 Gypsy Girl. The crayons are quite waxy and unlike anything I've worked with before in that they blend using colourless or the white crayon. The head is created on photocopier paper and then cut out and stuck to a canvas board background, before the hair and backdrop are created with paint and spray inks.

Shading finished.

Shading begins....

Lulu Art Experimenting with Promarkers

Background created with stamps and promarkers; the latter blended with an alcohol pen. Graphics from the Graphics fairy, printed and then coloured. Watermarks made with hand sanitizer. Wasn't sure but photographs quite well. Now can appreciate the contrast between the modern background and the vintage lady. I am going to work hard at masterring my pens.

Off at a Tangent (Again)

In Life Book Cafe, noticed a series of weekly free tutorials called Wildly Inspired by Effy Wild and thought I would have a go. I especially love the use of vintage photos and the old style drama and glamour, There is a dark almost gothic feel...  I used lace tape for the border and

Bohemian

antiqued with metallic gold Liberon. What a brilliant dancing outfit. Believe she was a Parisian showgirl.

The second exercise was titled ' Staying Wild'  I used my own photo as the Isadora Duncan one used by Effy was very blurred. Made a mess of my first attempt by using Sakura glaze pen which was very runny and bled. Loved the drippy background to this and the fine silver flecks.

Wild Heart

                   

Life Book Week 3 Carla Sonheim

I have previously completed Carla's Faces class and am familiar with her creativity exercises. Drawing blind, wronghanded and doodling around blobs just doesnt do it for me! But... I did enjoy the found poetry exercise - rearranging a paragraph of prose and the collage and doodled flowers. Making the storage envelope was fun. A layer of chalk pastel, an impasto layer of gesso and then a watercolour wash over the top. As Alexander threw himself into the textured wet gesso I had to include him! Can you spot him peeping out from the shrubbery?