Shizen Paper, Irises

I bought this very colorful handmade deckled edged Shizen paper after Christmas, and have been experimenting with it. While it would never take the place of the more traditional pastel surfaces I've worked with, it's been fun using it here and there. Originally I thought I'd use it all for faces (below is one face I did using the paper, shown paired with some decorative paper.) But the paper doesn't tolerate a blending stump very well, and forms pills at anything but the most delicate blending. You can't really see the paper pills in the picture of the face below, and I tried picking the little fuzzies off.

  I did, however, like the paper for these irises, below where form, blending, and lots of layering isn't as critical. No fuzzy paper pills transpired while working on this piece. 

I also did this sketch, below, a couple days ago...

She has stars falling from her wine glass. I couldn't decide whether she should be adorning the front of a ship, or if she was an angel, or maybe even an apparition.

These winter months seem to be the least productive time of the year for me. This week, I decided I need to jump in and start trying to get more work done in spite of a lot of things going on here. I just went through the last half of a 200 hundred dollar Dick Blick gift certificate from Christmas, so I have some goodies on the way to help me get more motivated. I hope to be able to post more work in the near future. Until next time, take care!