Diary of Faces wk 2

Here is my rendition of Nicolae Grigorescu’s painting named Gypsy's Head. Nicolae Grigorescu was a Romanian Painter, 1838-1907 and was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting.  You can see more of his art by clicking here.

Here is my initial sketch

This is my painting, and it seems that somewhere in the middle of the painting she decided to look elsewhere than straight ahead. I mean, in my initial sketch and the original painting the eyes are looking straight ahead and now they are looking to the left.   But over all I’m pleased with the results. At least she isn’t googly eyed right?

and below is the original work by the artist:

I’m linking to Paint Party Friday. Please go visit this blog and all the wonderful art by the participants.

 

One last note: And I have to say welcome back to my precious Little G who spent a confusing week away from his mama, papa and nana. My cautionary note for the week: If you’re thinking of taking a child away from his only source of security, please think of the child and not your own petty reasons for taking him. It took him quite a while to feel secure again that we weren’t going to leave him.  I’m sure no one reading this blog would do that to a child but I had to say it.  That’s all.

I don’t know how it happened….

I don’t know how it happened !!! Whaaa?? ….Ok that’s a bit overly dramatic… I’ll back up 20 paces…Last night I pulled out one of my 29 faces sketches. I remember that the entire time I was drawing it, I was drawing a female … or so I thought.  So I began by tearing away the excess paper and gluing the just head and neck to a 6” x 12” board.  Then after it dried, I started painting this girl:

 

and right in front of my eyes, “she” turned into a surfer dude.  I don’t know how it happened. Maybe it was the thicker eyebrows or the widening of the space between the eyes. The jaw looks a bit more “square” but that must have been surfer dude wanting to get out because I didn’t do that intentionally.

I think it’s OK though, because I kinda like him. He makes me want to visit the beach.

But I will have to try painting “her“ again later.

Diary of Faces week 1 painting

I’m back to faces, and I’ve been taking the Diary of Faces online class with Sharon Tomlinson of http://allnorahsart.blogspot.com/  In this class we are recreating faces painted by foreign artists. I found a self-portrait by Zinaida Serebriakova done in 1930 that I really liked and cropped it leaving just the head and shoulders. The full painting can be seen by clicking the artist’s name.

 

This is my rendition. It doesn’t look the same and no one is going to mistake it for the original but I am very happy with the result.

Spiritual

I’m not a very spiritual person but for some time now I have been fascinated by images of saints and angels. I’ve been to cemeteries to take photographs of the statues of angels and have even used one of them in my journal pages. You can see it here at the bottom of the long post.

When I was drawing this girl last month I had an urge to finish her as a saint but for some reason resisted. I finally decided to go for it:

The quote is:

Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.

by Mother Teresa.

Thanks for stopping by. I’d love to read your thoughts, so please leave a comment. :)

What a busy week.

I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to paint or post this week. It’s been a busy week. We had two birthdays this week. My G’s have a birthday only 1 day apart.  Little G is 2, and Big G is his Papa. We had a lovely birthday birthday dinner for Big G on Monday and although Little G’s birthday was on Tuesday, we’re having a birthday party for him on Saturday complete with 10 or 11 other little ones.Yikes! And we still have gifts to assemble.  Oh my! 

Here are my two birthday boys, Little G loves his grandpa, and wants to go everywhere with him.

This is what I worked on this week:

Linking to Paint Party Friday!

For you it is a Rose

Back to my colored pencils.

The sweetest flower that blows,
I give you as we part.
For you it is a Rose,
For me it is my heart.
- Quote by Frederick Peterson

And from Janis Joplin “I need a man to love”

The quote and the video have related themes of unrequited love.

I’ve always loved Janis. She passed the year I graduated high school. (boy does that date me.)  It was a sad day for rock n roll.

Linking to Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting and for giving me a reason to finish my journal page. :)  Be sure to click the link and visit all the participants.

A girl and her dog!

Something a little different than my usual fare.

The text says:

My Dog!

I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands.  When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat.  For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that.  ~W. Dayton Wedgefarth

I used gouache mixed with water and I spread it all over the page. When it was dry, this is what I saw! 

I’m linking to Summer of Color 2 - week three

Her name is Emmaline

I am so intimidated by watercolor paints (not pencils) that I’m surprised I had the courage to try this portrait. Then I got to thinking….It’s only cheap paint and cheap watercolor paper so why not? Sometime ago I bought a set of Reeves watercolors ( yes the cheap, cheap, cheap …seriously cheap brand) so that I could use them for background color in my journals. I never did use them for that purpose and I still had them around.  So really what did I have to lose except time? 

I penciled in the girls face and then procrastinated painting it. I liked the drawing…what if I ruined it? “OMG”, I told myself, “Shut up and paint!” So I did, I guess I just needed a good talking to.  You talk to yourself too, don’t you? ;-)

I have to say, watercolors are a different medium from what I’m used to. It’s going to take some time to get comfortable with it.   I’m not liking the dark, dark shadows of her hair around her neck nor do I like the obvious lines on her face from a not well blended changes in skin color. But I guess it not a terribly horrible first attempt.

I did learn that you must tape your sheet down or the paper buckles badly. I had to rewet the back and place a book over it to flatten it. I hoped it wouldn’t ruin it. I also learned I need to practice drawing flowers. 

For your listening pleasure “Emmaline” by Hot Chocolate.

Be warned, it’s got some sad lyrics toward the end.

I’m linking to Paint Party Friday. Thank you Eva and Kristin for hosting the fun party. Everyone else please sure to click the link to visit this week participants.

The Summer of Color: Week Two!

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Kristin is hosting the The Summer of Color 2: Ice Cream Inspirations! blog event. Thank you Kristin. We are now in week two and this weeks theme is Mint Chocolate Chip.

I worked mainly with watercolor pencils, stamps for the background, and printed text. I think mine turned out a little greener than the inspiration. Oops.

The quote on the page is from the song titled “Green-eyed Lady” from Sugarloaf. It’s an oldie but a goodie.  If you’ve never heard it before, click the video link below. PS: Even though it’s a video link, it’s just the audio and the album cover. For a real video check www.YouTube.com  for the 7+ minute version.

I didn’t get a chance to visit all the participants last week but I hope to this week. I had planned to spend the weekend blog hopping but I ended the week with a case of food poisoning after a visit to a local restaurant on Friday. Yuck! Weekend ruined. All is A-OK now, thank goodness.

Be sure to visit all the participants, there is some lovely art work to be seen.

Your Unique Spirit

Hi everyone.  I haven’t been arting it up much this last week. Don’t know why, probably just a little tired. The hot weather seems to do that to me…even with air-conditioning. Yet, I’d rather it be summer than winter. How about you?  Are you a cold weather person or hot?

This is what I did manage to work on…. I used mainly watercolor pencils for the painting and markers for the lettering. To create lettering, I used Photo Shop Elements and after printing to regular paper, I traced them using graphite paper.  Then used Pitt markers to color them in.

I had previously colored her outfit blue but had a change of heart and wanted it pink instead. I used scrapbook paper to change the color.

I’m linking this to:

And to:

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate all your sweet comments and constructive criticisms. ;)