Miscellaneous art

It is the end of the week and it looks like I have a lot of miscellaneous art that I have done throughout the week. It makes for a hodge podge of a blog post. We have charcoal, collage, painting and sketching.

A charcoal drawing from the Face to Face class. I have such a problem with charcoal smearing before I get finished. I love the immediacy of the medium but sometimes it drives me nuts.

 



















Then its back to my journal for a couple more journal pages I finished. I incorporated a tag I painted awhile ago into the page. I always wonder what to do with tags and think this is a good use for them.

This face started with leftover paint from my palette. She looked a little plain so I added in a background.

I think it makes her pop off the page.

Sketchbook Challenge

I am continuing to do this sketchbook challenge using prompts provided. This is 3 days worth.

Some days I want to do more than the prompt as in the case of drawing my sock.

Here I drew the lamp in a waiting room.

I wanted to also start using the sketchbook to draw things I am interested in like these elephants. To use the sketchbook as a place to explore ideas.

I have done these kind of challenges before and find that when they are over with I don't stick with it.  I get stuck in that mode of "what am I gong to draw" and lose interest.  I think that when the prompts end this time, I don't want to stop. I think if I am doing some of these studies that I will have created a new habit that I will want to continue.

Do you keep a sketchbook? How do you use it?

Out Of My Slump

I really have enjoyed my week off from blogging and yes I did miss it so I am back. So what did I learn in that week, I think just the fact that I said I was going to stop made things better all around. I found time to work on my network and posted a video and a few posts there. I decided I was not going to double post everything, it just takes too much time. So you can either check out the network or subscriber to my YouTube channel  to see anything that I am doing there.  In the studio I spent quite a bit of time and learned to just let go, to not worry about what I was doing, to just be.  I made some simple pages and thats ok because you can only do what you feel like on any given day.  I am giving myself permission to do that, to stop being so critical and just let it be.

This is for the sketchbook challenge.

and a few of the journal pages I made in the last couple weeks.

A face in watercolor crayons

This is my entry for the creative challenge on my site.

Another simple page, these pages were done a week apart, I found it funny that I used the same paper for accent on both of them.

I liked this image so much its is my call to spring, I really am ready for it.

Here I really wanted to be another Kate for at least a day.

Another face exploration done in acrylics. For some reason I am calling her Imelda, not sure where the name came from.

More journaling with a simple image.   Now its time to get back to the studio and make some more art.  I hope that you can find time to do the same.

Is it a Sketchbook or an Art Journal

For my word of the year I narrowed my choice down to the word focus. My focus is on completion on finishing things I start.  These can be old projects that have been around for years or new things that I start. To cement the idea in my head I like to do a art journal page on the idea. The page is fairly simple but the message does get across so I think that is all that is needed.





I am participating in the Year long Sketchbook Challenge and first I decorated the cover but didn't do much beyond that.  I tried some simple sketches on the first few pages, but there is nothing fantastic that I wanted to share.  I found myself trying to turn the book into an Art Journal and had to stop myself.

The theme this month is highly prized.  I found the prompt to be a little problematic as it can encompass so much.  I ended up adding a drawing my daughter did to the page and then doing my own little sketch.  Next came a few words on the idea.

I am really not too sure how to handle this sketchbook thing.  When I see some of the artists sketchbooks  on the site I see elaborated drawings with watercolor added so they really look like paintings themselves. I have always thought of a sketchbook as pen or graphite and I know that is limiting myself.  Perhaps if I were better at watercolor I would not hesitate to add it. So tell me what do you think the difference is between an art journal and a sketchbook?





This is the another page in the sketchbook.  I drew her from my own imagination, she is done in graphite pencils H and 4B.

Sketchbook cover

Like many of you out there I have joined in on the Sketchbook Challenge.  Since this is a year long project I have decided to get a new sketchbook just for this project.  I stopped at Michaels to get one of Canson's Mixed Media sketchbooks.  I got the smaller size because I want to be able to carry it around easily. Here is a video I did of decorating the cover.



My daughter is doing a writing blog and it is very good.  Here is the link, if you are interested check it out.