He loves me... He loves me not...... Art Journal Entry #1

I have finished my first art journal entry.
I did not intend for this to be a "Valentine's" theme... but i find it to be very appropriate.

I am posting photos in stages, i love to see how a painting develops from sketch to finished product.

In this first stage i have sketched, in graphite, a general idea of what i wanted the finished product to look like. I don't particularly like drawing hands, and my hands aren't very good for modeling. However my 7yo son has very nice hands... so i made him be my hand model for this sketch =)

Next i painted in her face with a mix of watercolor pencils and acrylics. Her hair is painted in acrylic, and the background is different shades of purple acrylic wash.


I just love how the finished product came out! I finished off her hair with highlights of plum, and her dress in turquoise acrylic. Her corset is silver, and i have used a piece of old lace as a kind of stamp to give it a black lace effect, which i also used down the left edge of the page. The daisy in her hair is from a gardening magazine. I finished it off with wisps of wind in silver, aswell as black and silver heart lacy stamps.

Fairies and Geishas and Art Journals... oh my!

COLOR!! Oh how I love it! All colors, even the "ugly" ones =). I spend much of my time working in Primitive colors, which is fine, I love what I do…. but sometimes BAM the color explodes!! That is what I love about altered art…. layers and layers of…. you guessed it…. COLOR!

I also have a thing for fairies. They are so whimsical and magical…. anything with wings fascinate me actually.

This piece may be my favorite so far. I used layers of paint, paper, watercolor pencil, ink, magazine clippings, buttons and beeswax. I love the colors in this, they are some of my favorites!

What can I say? I have been on an Asian kick lately, whether it is with my cooking or painting.

I love my Geisha Girl! Her kimono and fans are made from layers of printed papers, and everything else is painted with acrylics. I have shaded everything with a metallic bronze acrylic to add a glow, and I love how it gives the jade background a patina that looks much like tarnished copper.

ART JOURNAL!!

I love the idea! Something to carry around to jot down ideas, work with new techniques, and just play in every day! WOOHOO!

My brother-in-law bought me this beautiful journal for Christmas several years ago. It is made completely from recycled handcrafted paper. I love it!! However, I had no idea what to do with it….. until now. The pages are very heavy, much like watercolor paper. It was completely free of any sort of decoration, a perfect canvas for the imagination! And, of course I had to start by prettying up the cover a bit =)

(I had to get my messy table in there too, hubby just doesn't get the organized chaos of art…. I actually cleaned it up a bit for the photo)

I cannot wait to get started!! I will probably be journaling this online too, it's always good to have a sounding board, and what better than the world-wide-web for that??

Off to paint I go!

Experamenting with Beeswax

This is my first attempt at sealing with beeswax. It took a bit of work, and some scraping, but it came out ok for my first try i suppose. However i did learn that sometimes layers of acrylic, and hot wax don't really mix. I had a bit of trouble with this piece, mostly around her chin and jawline... although the photo accentuates the flaws a bit more than in person. Overall i am happy, and really enjoyed the process. Awe shucks, i think this one might just have to stay with me =).

And on a side note, beeswax smells WONDERFUL!! My house smells like honey all the time now =)