Weekend Faces, #553-#555

When I was a kid, I hated Sundays because all day long I could feel the weight of the impending Monday looming over my head...which meant back to school. It's not that school was so bad, either. But it just didn't compare to the weekends, holidays, and summers of freedom! Because I have something I don't want to do coming up this week, this whole weekend and I'm sure almost every day until Thursday is going to feel like a Sunday night. It made for some strange moods over this weekend, which I know influenced my creative decisions. In any case, I have three faces to add to the count... I will try to get in some more posts over the week, even with that Sunday night feeling hanging over my head! Until then, take care!

The Under Painting Of Orbs, and "Epiphany"

I wanted to add textured orbs to finish this painting, but it took me a little time to decide on what colors to use. This first image below shows my photo brought into Corel Painter, auditioning color ideas. I liked this color scheme, but it brought up memories of another painting I did where I felt the palette would have been better if more limited.And below, is a photo of the under painting of the orbs I added to the painting. It was difficult to look at the painting with the orbs like this...I kept telling myself it wasn't finished and to be patient. They were so severe. And the finished painting, I am calling "Epiphany", 19" by 25", pastel. I wish the wispy bits of cloud in the background showed up better in the picture. But my camera flash has the annoying tendency to either bleach everything out, or to accentuate lights beyond their actual appearance. A new camera is on the horizon! 

Thanks for visiting, and until next time, take care! 

Faces #548-#552

A few more drawings, a few more faces...

 I really enjoyed making the above pieces. The first one I will probably explore further at some point, with a color rendition. I have two pieces in progress I will try to finish up and post before Saturday. Thanks for visiting my blog, and take care until next time!

The Usual Suspects: Faces #542-#547

It wasn't until after I sketched these and saw the whole group together, that they made me think of characters from some story where they were all suspects in some murder mystery. Or maybe I just watch too much tv, seen too many movies (wink).

I will try to post again later in the week! Until next time, take care!

Falling, Reaching, Or Flying...

After months had passed, I finally used a gift certificate I had for art supplies last week. I chose to buy a book, some Canson papers, and a few pastels. Canson has the right idea in the naming of their paper, with colors like "Southern Seas", "Hemp", "Oyster".  Personally, I tend to ignore more standardized color names realizing they may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, and re-name them if I am so inclined. I'll call a dark brown, "Espresso" instead of the standard burnt umber. Or I'll just call it dark brown...the one with black added to it. I make up names for my pastels like, "Tortuga Brown", "Drop Dead Red", or "Sharp Cheddar". What can I tell you? It's the source of occasional amusement for me, and my relationship with color is more intuitive, raw and visceral than it is refined. I bought ten sheets 19" by 25" of  the "Southern Seas" by Canson, thinking I'd use them for non-face related artwork. Maybe some abstract designs with shells and such. But as I sat looking at the first sheet, inevitably a face was drawn. I can't decide if she is falling, flying, reaching or in the middle of a tango being dipped! And it's my intention to leave it that way, where it could be displayed from multiple orientations. The background to be added will not include anything to indicate up from down. It is a study in the sense that I know it should look "right" no matter the orientation.

I also thought I'd post a tentative update of the angel I was working on. I brought the photo of it into Corel Painter and think this is the direction I am heading with it, below.Well, that's my weekend post. I will try to post again by Tuesday! Until next time, take care!

Faces #531-#540

Out of the ten faces here, only the first one pictured (which is in progress) will lead to an actual finished piece. Someone was asking to buy it before I'm even done ! And although the rest of the faces pictured in this post will not be "finished pieces", I am still glad to add them to the count and to have done them as studies. This angel piece is 19" by 25", pastel on toned paper. Not sure of the approach I will take to finish it: more stylized, or traditional.

This next piece is colored pencil and no.2 pencil.

No.2 pencil, again...

The rest are all pastel or pastel pencil.

That's all for today. I will try to get a post out over the weekend! Until then, thanks for visiting and take care!

Class Projects

Although I have work finished to show, I thought I'd wait until I'm a little farther along in the face count before posting. In the meantime, I was going through my closet and unearthed my graphic design portfolio from school. There were some things in there I thought I would share here. Lots of pictures will make this a long post.

      This first project was from my typography class. It was called the "single character project". Basically, one character of the alphabet rendered by hand (not digitally) in one of two fonts, either regular or italic, to form a sort of letter collage. The first pic is the jacket of my thumbnails.

And then some larger boards of the rough drafts.

For the final version of the project, we had to cut all our letter forms with an exacto knife. I chose some art papers that made it tricky.... Another typography project was the "type personalities project". Four words hand rendered in four fonts that have the personality of the words selected, to form a poster. My thumbnails are below...all done by hand.

Then, the rough drafts mounted on boards. I used a variety of materials...there are even tiny mirrors glued onto the first piece.

And then a color version of the final project. I must have done twenty different color schemes, then finally turned in the project in black and white for lack of deciding.

Two digital fonts I designed outside of type class...

This next one is a product rendering done for a design class.

There was a lot of drawing done in that class...

And some more cutting. We had to cut out a design to demonstrate asymmetrical balance, below... And another design that had to be cut to demonstrate unity through repetition of shape, flow, and value. I had some letters I wrote to my teachers I was going to share. I occasionally wrote a letter about class lectures on the backs of my assignments. I will limit it to one since this post is already so long. 

"Insight:

Even if a person were to live their entire life in a constant state of heightened awareness, and he/she were to see all they could possibly see---it would still only be a glimmer of all that there is. So much of the grand design remains concealed, and no one sees the entire work of it from its beginning to its conclusion, from an omniscient point of view. Only the "Author Of Life". The best that there is here, is only visible with the heart and mind, and soul---not the naked eye. Yet the naked eye does provide us with clues to the intangible---all around us, all the time...if a person just sees with better eyes!"

I leave with you with that thought! Until next time, take care!

Faces #527-#530

 The fact that I have any work to show at all is just incredible under the circumstances of this past week. Some of the faces in this post were quickly scrawled on notebook paper! I sure hope for better days ahead!

Thanks for visiting, and take care until next time!

Face #526, Weekend Project

 A discussion about mermaids over tasty Thai food on Thursday made me want to do another mermaid painting. I picked at this piece over part of Friday and Saturday. It sure was a lot more interesting than cleaning the house which I will now have to tend to!

Mermaid Study, pastel 18" by 25"

I hope everyone has been having a great weekend! Until next time, take care!

Faces In Shades Of Espresso

I rendered these faces several days ago using a pastel pencil in a deep shade of espresso, and then couldn't decide if I would do more of them before posting, or if I would take these and bring them to a more finished state before posting. As it happens, I got busy and didn't do either, so I will just post them "as is" with the possible intention of doing more to these and re-posting later. They are Faces #521-#525. You don't have to make lofty New Year's resolutions of accomplishing something, when setting a goal with small steps along the way will actually get you closer toward your objective! Last January, I only had two posts. I hope to have a few more than that this year. January is the "Monday" of all months to me! Hope you are all enjoying the new year so far! Until next time, take care!