Warning!! Very long blog post here.

I signed up for Life Book again this year because I thought it looked very different to last years class. There were a lot of teachers who I had heard of and would like to learn from.
The class started well and I was inspired a lot but slowly I have become a little disappointed with the way the lessons are going.

The first lesson was with the coordinator Tam of Willowing.org It was a fun lesson with two components.

 

 The next lesson was taught by Christy Tomlinson and was fun too. It is very mixed media and I still have some of the paper we made for it left over.

 

This lesson was taught by Dion Dior and involved white on black with silhouettes. I chose to do a hand with butterflies and I like the way it turned out. 

This lesson was to make some cards with affirmations on the back and put them in a pocket on a journal page. I did that last year and it was too bulky in my book so this time I made more cards and did one large flat page with them.The images are collaged atc images.

 This lesson is another with Tam and involved using masking fluid and watercolours. I loved the chance to experiment with sprays and watercolours.

 
This was not a lesson taught by any one but a simple prompt to put a bunny on your page. I again chose to do watercolour.

 The next lesson was taught by Jane Davenport. It was the same lesson she has taught in her online course that I did, so I found it easy. I continued to play with watercolours and pale colors that are not my usual style. I was just in the mood for that.

 This lesson taught by Danita was about painting over a printed image from a magazine. It seemed a bit basic to me, especially after we had already learnt to draw figures in Jane's lesson. I did it my own way and again went with pale colours.

The next lesson with Tam saw us making rolled paper hearts. I had fun doing this lesson but I prefer drawing or painting something less abstract. 

I didn't like the week 11 lesson at all because it talked about hate and I don't have hate in my heart. There is no room for it with all the love and happiness in there. I chose to ignore that lesson and do one from the Willowing blog about an angel. This is probably one of my favourite pieces so far. 

 The next lesson was a lot nicer and taught by Mindy Lacefield. She paints the most adorable little people and this is my take on that.

 The next lesson was a fun one by Tam. It was quirky birds and everyone seemed to love it. If you look at the Life Book 2013 group on Flickr you will see hundreds of quirky birds.

 The next lesson was a simple page with only writing on it so I have not done that one.  I moved on to this lesson based on stained glass windows with Joann Loftus. It was another fun lesson for me because it is a little different.

 

 I did two designs and couldn't decide which one to do so I did them both at the same time. I was a little disappointed when I finished the landscape because it needed more variation in colour. I realised I shouldn't have stuck with the greens for the hills and should have used some of the pinks and reds I used in the other picture. That would have added life to the image. Next time I will do that.

This weeks lesson is another one that is mainly writing on the page and very little art so I will have to go my own way again. I think that is why I am a little disappointed. Last year we did so many faces I was starting to get bored with it but at least the lessons were challenging. This year the art lessons have become more simplified and I am sometimes not inspired to do the work or I end up doing something that is not anything to do with the lesson. I will continue and see what happens. It may be only these few lessons that are like that. I have enjoyed most of the class so far and would still recommend it as great value for money.

Where have I been? you might ask.

I am sorry I have been away so long. Just a couple of days after my last post we had some major family emergencies that have kept me from wanting to blog. Both are  resolved and I hope, done with for now, so I am back to the computer again. I have not stopped making art because it helps to keep me sane but I just haven't written about it. I finished off the Life Book lessons and I will share that today.

  

This last lesson was taught by Bonnie Rose and was meant to be a self portrait but I just did a girl with wings. I love the way the page turned out and can see how much improvement I have made since the start of the year. I am tempted to redo some of my earlier work but I won't. It is good to look back and see what has changed in my art after lessons with so many different teachers. 

When the teachers were announced for this year's Life Book I could see many changes had been made and it looked like another fabulous year of lessons with lots of new teachers. I signed up because it is so cheap for what you get. I will share some of the work I have done in my next post.