The Winter Blues

It seems all I want to do lately

is huddle under my covers

and do nothing.

The cold, gray days,

The fact that my (30th!!!!!) birthday is in a few days,

and my work schedule being all wacky, has gotten me in a funk.

I just would rather sleep than deal with life,

and my poor baby art journal has suffered.

In fact I haven't opened my paints

in over a month! 

Until tonight.

Maybe because it was 65 and sunny,

Maybe because I told myself all day I

WOULD paint tonight...either way,

I busted them out.

I was inspired by a lyric the other day and

actually felt like I wanted to put that image in my art journal.

Here is a pencil sketch in my moleskine.

My art journal page is in the making, so stay tuned!

In other news, I finally ordered Andrea's 'Zine.

This is just a small glimpse of her work.

The zine is just filled with awesome drawings,

words and colors. I seriously could pore over it

with a magnifying glass (and it is needed, since there are teeny tiny words)

for hours. I am so glad I have her work that I can

just flip to whenever I want to be awed.

This is sort of a horrible picture, because the left side

is super light, and that is where the light is,

and the right side is dark (and more blue).

BUT, I saw this ad in a magazine and just knew

I needed to try and draw it.

Why do I feel compelled to draw these detailed things?

I perservered, and erased...and erased, but came up

with a sketch I liked.

Then I thought that this was a perfect drawing

to really try out colored pencils.

Like, serious trying...no willy nilly coloring!

I transferred my sketch onto tracing paper,

and transferred that onto Bristol Vellum paper.

I've done extensive colored pencil research because it fascinates me,

and Vellum is a cheap and good paper to use with CP's.

Colored pencils is a s-l-o-w medium.

This part you see? A good hour and a half!

And I am just a baby beginner...but it is fun

and so different than any other medium I use.

I have to consciously think of my color choices

ahead of time, layer very lightly,

layer some more...

and then some more.

I thought this would be fun because of the lack of colors.

It is overwhelming when you have an entire rainbow

of colors at your hand, but don't really know how to use them.

This just requires grays, dark blues and white.

So, keep watching for updates on this.

That is, if I can get out of my winter blues

Works in Progress

I've spent the last week or two ruminating

on some ideas, and thinking about

how I want their final output to look like.

I'm still ruminating, but I have at least started

sketches! 

Have a look see at my beginning stages.

You may notice each one is in a completely

different journal/paper type.

:)

This is the biggest size, 9x12 I believe.

What hopefully will be a birthday present for my dad.

Inspired by a painting I saw in my boss's house whilst babysitting.

 This little sketch (in my Sketchbook Project) was inspired by some

Sarah McLachlan lyrics.

I plan on using watercolor in some fashion.

And this little bugger is inspired by

my favorite little guy that I babysit for.

He likes Legos.

I hope this turns out as nicely as I have it pictured in my head.

I practiced the letter drawings on tracing paper,

an idea stolen from Andrea Joseph.

Except, if I were to transfer it onto the paper,

the letters would have been put on backwards!

DUH!

After some thought (I spent nearly two hours doing this...)

I decided to just cut the letters out and glue it right to the page.

It quickly answered what medium I was going to use;

Acrylics.

It would be hard to do watercolor or pen over gel mediumed 

tracing paper.

Acrylics, I hope I still know how to use you!

As you may see, I'm still on the quest to

learn to draw.

Just keep practicing.

Stay tuned for (hopefully) some finished products.

A spread in progress...

I cut out this sun stencil...how awesome is it?! I love it. I am using this new thinner film (I can't remember what it is), and it makes using a burning tool SO much easier. It cuts like buttah. I'm not sure where this spread is going; I am too busy staring at the pretty suns.

Also, courtesy of Michelle Ward, I made a binder to hold my stencils. SUCH a great idea.

I am once again in a stencil-making phase. I wish I could draw, but I can't, so I will use royalty free images.

I don't have much else to say, but I will end this post with a couple pictures of my friend's baby. I loveee her. So cute.

Brave the Elements

Its back!!! Michelle's Crusades have returned for the new year. YAY! I have been waiting anxiously for them. I loveeeeee her posts and ideas about each crusade to come up with. It gives me a project to do. I learn something new. I did have to google how to cut out a snowflake though! lol. I don't think I've done one since I was a kid. This month it is "Brave the Elements." We had to make our own shape (she suggested snowflakes..and that is about right since we haven't seen this much snow since 96!), and use it to make stencils/masks out of.

This is my version.
#1. I suck at making paper snowflakes
#2. I need to learn patience. I got a little paint happy and didn't wait for paint to dry, so its a little muddy.
#3. Boy do I LOVE getting my hands dirty
#4. This isn't completely finished. I'll probably journal on top of it or doodle or something.

(Click to enlarge)
(Anybody know how to fix the picture so that when you put it on "XLarge, it doesn't cut off the right side of the photo?)

Also a spread in progress...