Her Demure Disguise. . .

Her demure appearance was her best disguise as no one noticed the riot of tumultuous feelings she was able to successfully conceal within.

Doodled girl painted and sketched in a new Moleskine Journal.  Look Kim -PINK!

Linking to Art Journal Every Day,

Illustration Friday - DISGUISE, and

Paint Party Friday

Doodlers Anonymous Bookmark

I've been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember - always have loved being transported to other times and places on the wings on a great story - laughing and crying along with my favorite characters that live with you long after the tale is over!

When Doodlers Anonymous announced their 2nd bookmark contest I just had to throw my hat (or bugs) into the ring.  If you want to check out the amazing entries go HERE.  A huge thanks if you decide to give mine a FAVE!  

Either way - feel free to print this out and use it to save your place in the book you are currently reading!

Be willing to be a beginner . . .

Very few words tonight. . . 

I am tired -  

so tired that my head was bobbing while trying to edit these photos. 

BTW - when will I ever learn to be careful about wet ink?!  I smeared her nose all over the place - do you know how much faster I could draw if I didn't have to spend time cleaning up all my mistakes?! 

She looks pretty cool here - a big part of me wishes I had stopped at this point. 

Linking to Paint Party Friday,

Art Journal Every Day

Inspired by Henri Matisse - Part Two

This first week of Studying Under the Masters has just flown by and tomorrow will be a fresh artist.  I wasn't quite ready to let go of Matisse and wanted to play around with one of his works tonight.  

This was based on STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS AND FRUIT a 1947 aqcuatint by Henri Matisse.  We learned from class that Matisse started with a sketch - I used pencil and then followed it up with 

India Ink applied with a liner brush.  Obviously, Matisse used a larger brush when painting his so I'm sure it took me longer than it did him but I did learn to loosen up. 

While Matisse's work stayed in black and white, I went a step further and got out the watercolors and made it look "Matisse-like" by adding bright hues and a patterned wallpaper background.  Below is the original work.  This was great fun!

Linking to Sunday Sketches and

Creative Every Day

Illustration Friday - SEARCH

Quick journal page for Illustration Friday - SEARCH. 

Watercolor and ink heart layered with text over dried teabag paper.

Linking to Paint Party Friday and

Art Journal Every Day

Inspired by Henri Matisse

Have you ever wanted to take an online class but didn't know where to start or which one to take?  Let me heartily recommend Studying Under the Masters - Becoming the Apprentice hosted on the Jeanne Oliver Design blog.  I've been looking forward to this class ever since it was announced - It just opened today and what a treat!

There are 9 teachers and each week one will "apprentice" under a master painter - learning their techniques, their history, etc. and will share it with us!  This week is Henri Matisse.

With my Matisse coffee mug at my side I was ready to start my adventure (in the interest of total honesty the mug is my mother's but since I stole/borrowed it from her about 2 years ago with NO intention of returning it, I feel as though I can refer to it as mine - feel free to visit it any time you want, Mom).

I cut 4 pieces of sketch paper to 6" x 9" and painted them in solid colors.  TIP:  Use those old catalogs you receive in the mail as mats while you paint.  When you've finished painting just tear out the catalog page and you  have a fresh one underneath.  I use catalogs all the time when I am using gluestick, etc.  No clean-up - just wad up the paper and throw it away!

Adirondack paints are a favorite of mine since they are so matte.  I used a smallish brush so I could dip it right into the bottle - another mess saver!

I'm usually so picky about painting but really tried to loosen up and make fun patterns.  One of the many things I learned today was Matisse's love of pattern and how it is reflected in so many of his works.

The flower pattern was my favorite so I set it aside to use on another project.  Flipped over the other three patterns and drew organic shapes on the back which I cut out with scissors.  When Matisse was older and could no longer paint he did what he called "painting with scissors" and constructed amazing paper collages.

I combined his love of pattern along with the organic shapes to make my idea of a Matisse.  I had limited time to play and was itching to be creative so this was just the project for me.

Funny how there can seem to be a "right way" for the image - at least to me. This one is flipped from the first one and seems upside down to me.  What do you think?

"Fancy a Chinese?"

While cleaning up the detritus of our Chinese dinner I picked up the bag that it came in - gorgeous, thick, brown paper that was just begging to be used as more than garbage. . . so I did. 

My family is used to me cutting up the "garbage" to draw on - our younger son brings me interesting wrappers on a regular basis - things he thinks would be cool to collage with other pieces - like the saying from the cookie that I put with the girl.

Our English friends say, 'Fancy an Indian or do you fancy a Chinese?" when deciding what to order for take-out food.  It always made me picture picking up an actual person to eat with us - not just getting the food.  Tickles me so much that I've adopted the saying too!

Linking to Sunday Sketches,

Creative Every Day

Illustration Friday - TIME

"Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions."

                               - John Randolph

The passage of time has been on my mind quite a bit this week.  Our older son just turned 17 and, as every mother knows, the time has flown by since his birth.

A recent car conversation went as follows:  

CONNOR (age 17) - "Mom, did you realize that the year 2048 is as close in time as the year 1980 was?"

ME - "Thanks, Connor - you've managed to make me feel even older than ever." 

CALEB (age 12) - "Mom probably won't even be alive in 2048."

This girl was drawn in pencil over a wash of yellow ochre watercolor in my sketchbook.

I recently found The Ink Draw blog and LOVE how she draws hair and wanted to give it a try.

The different sections of hair do not stand out as separately as I'd like but all in all I am happy with my first attempt. 

Her eyes were initially painted only in gray and blue but a little addition of orange pencil seemed like a good idea in the moment and made such a big difference! 

Linking to Paint Party Friday,

Art Journal Every Day,

Illustration Friday

Girl in the Crushed Felt Hat

So in my mind's eye this girl has rescued her grandfather's old green felt hat from the garbage because she always pictures him wearing it.

Over time the brim has become floppy and the hat misshapen but with the addition of a pink flower she feels beautiful honoring his memory.

Are you a hat person?   

Hats scare me because they make people look at you and I am the type of person that does not like to draw attention to herself in public.  

A hat seems to bring with it a certain responsibility that I'm not sure that I'm up to - however, one weekend several years ago we were visiting Charleston with my parents.  My mom talked me into purchasing a floppy straw hat that I happily wore all day.  

It was super cute and I have lots of pics of me wearing it that day but I've never worn it again.  Perhaps the anonymity of being where nobody knew me allowed me to relax and step out of my box.

Linking to Paint Party Friday,

Art Journal Every Day,

Paper Saturday