Joynal

 Here are some more of the pages I have been doing for the online Joynal course with Jane Davenport. 

This week was concentrating on the face. I still need to add some text to the right side of the page.

I decided to do a real mixed media page this time. The fairy wings are done with Ranger Distress Crackle paint.

This is the most current work from the course. It was unicorn week so I tried to go for a more painterly look. I have done a lot of other pictures for this course that I will add to my flickr account if you want to take a look. The link is on the right.

More Life Book pages

I am sharing a few more of the life book pages I have finished recently. As I have not been able to keep up with the lessons lately I have started to skip lessons and do the ones that appeal to me the most. I do intend to do the other lessons in the future.

This first page is mostly watercolour paints markers. The border is done with molding paste and is raised. I drew the butterflies freehand.

The next page is a foldout page to put into our journal. It is a blob art technique, where you use blobs of paint to find animals and shapes on your page. I had a lot of fun with this one. I didn't even know I could draw animals before I started this lesson. This one was done with acrylics and pens.

I liked the technique so much I decided to repeat it on the back of the page. This time I used gesso mixed with the acrylics for the first layer. That made the colours muted so I decided to keep it a soft piece. I tried to look for larger images this time so I didn't have so many  things to paint. I used watercolours to paint the animals and keep the whole feel soft. I like both techniques and had a lot of fun. It will be a great technique when I want to draw something but have no idea where to start.

A new course with Jane Davenport..

While I have been absent I have started a new online course with Jane Davenport. It is called Joynal and is about drawing fairies and other story book characters. We have been using serviettes to make backgrounds and using mixed media on nearly every page.

This first drawing was just a warmup drawing at the start of the class when we were preparing our journals.

This drawing is lacking shading and I want to add text so I will fix it when I have more time after the class is finished. I used stamp foil on the wings to give it a shine.

When working on this painting I had an ah ha moment about my art. I realised I have been drawing very stiff, pale people up to now and so added more shading than I used to. I am still working on the stiffness.

This page has some of the original illustrations of the altered book I am using coming through the picture. I added the animals and pixies. Again the figures are stiff looking.

I consider art to be a never ending journey of learning, experimentation and creative wonder. I am continuing to try new things with these online courses that I seem to be addicted to.  It is the sort of art lessons I have looked for all my adult life. At the moment I am doing the whimsy style of art but I have already seen some landscape watercolour art classes I want to try soon. Sigh...I wish I could spend all day, every day in my studio.

I'm back...

No I haven't abandoned my blog. Sorry I have been away for so long, it wasn't what I intended. My back yard project took a little longer than expected. Once you start a big project sometimes little ones keep popping up that need seeing to first so then you can finish off the big one. It is a little like starting a painting and some sections taking longer than you imagined they would. Eventually it all comes together at the end. I also had a few health issues crop up like a sprained wrist that kept me away from the computer but that is all cleared up now and I am back in the studio again.

I will post my latest Life Book pages today.

This lesson was about a realistic style face. I chose an old photo of myself. The painting looks ok but I don't think it really looks like me. I think I will stick with whimsy style faces for now. This mixed media piece is acrylics, pan pastels, pencils and markers. The butterfly is a stitched on charm.

The lesson for this week was a calendar page and another face page next to it. We were meant to be honoring our present and for me that was the garden I was creating in our back yard. I decided not to do the face and wanted to do the flowers (grevilleas) I was planting for the birds that visit our garden. Then I decided to combine the pages together into one piece. It is probably my favourite page so far. The whole page is watercolour except for the calendar entries that are done with marker and pencil.

The next lesson was a doodling exercise. I am not really a doodler of abstract style images. When I doodle it is really little sketches of realistic images so that is what I did on my page. I started with the quote so I could make sure it fit on the page. Then I started sketching the flowers with pencil on the right hand side and up to the top of the page. I went over the flowers with pen and decided it was taking too long to do it with pencil first so I sketched the rest of the flowers with the pen only. I went around each image twice to give it a sketchy look. I haven't done that before but I like the way it turned out. The colour was added with Twinkling H2O watercolours. It sparkles in the light.

The last lesson I have to share with you was inspired by the artist Audrey Kawasaki. It was with Rhomany and again is about the present. When I looked at the original inspiration I was amazed. Audrey does the most beautiful work and her cut out designs are gorgeous. My finished piece ended up being a combination of Audrey's and Rhomany's work. It is pen with coloured pencils.  I did the name like Rhomany showed us then drew the flowers and grid myself. I added a quote to the border.  The whole page was cut out like Audrey does with her pictures and a few spots of colour were added behind the grid.

I am very happy that Life Book has moved away from only doing faces. I like to explore other subjects for art. I will be back later in the week to share other pieces I have been working on for a different class I am doing with Jane Davenport.