about face....

about face and coming to my own realization that my own timeliness and daily devotion has been a bit of a struggle; and yet, i find a huge amount of satisfaction in doing faces...

i have to give a bit of thanks to Myrna Waknov. if you are not familiar with her work- check out here. i was fortunate enough to have taken a class from her 2 year ago. at the time, i thought it was a bit crazy but, we were going to draw the same face all week. Myrna taught different techniques and ways to manipulate and use the picture to push us outside of our comfort zone; but, we truly used only one picture of a face all week.

the biggest thing i got out of the class was that i could do it- i could draw a face; and actually- like Myrna- i find that i like faces that are more interesting. interesting features or wrinkles....

tried a few varieties of techniques these past few days but, loved all of these.

{29} face(s) it....i am behind

i have been playing a bit of a catch up game here on my 29 faces- but, have been so enjoying the process yet. i am going to post some of my favorite faces from the past 2 weeks.....

i love the sun light on my page, with the shadow of the string and the light, hi-lighting fear...demanding you to look at it.

just like fear can do....

it starts with a little fear....a little weed of doubt in the corner of my mind. and then, there is another little weed- backing up that fear, that first weed of doubt that was planted....

but, i am not going to feed the fear.

here is my full project for one little word for september which was fear.

i shared my fear yesterday with the sneak peek, but, what i need to do is to be strong, and keep focused on my art dream....and keep those darn weeds of doubt out.

because the light is so close on this dream...close enough to see and believe.

to believe....in my dream.

i interrupt faces..... to share a secret

i am going to share a sneak peek of my one little word project for this month and let you in on a secret....

fear....to feed the fear. i don't want this to happen- the feeding part into my fear; so why is it so relatively easy to feed into this? i hate this....

my latest conflict involves the fact that i was asked in my big-girl job to take on additional responsibilities to make me full time, which makes me feel good- i must be doing a good job; and which is definitely beneficial for my family with our oldest in his third year of college, a senior who is looking at colleges, and a sophomore who will turn 16 this next week and is hoping to drive....and preferably a car that is "his."

okay- now back to the fear part.....while the full time pay and benies are great...my art and blog are now taking a bit of a back seat these last few weeks, and my fear is losing what i have worked so hard to build including this blog. i have a huge fall coming up with several publications coming out but, i don't want to be one of those blogger who apologizes for not posting due to blah, blah, blah....but, as i look at my last post- a week ago....that is what i feel like....apologizing.

instead of apologizing and letting this fear creep in, i simply need to figure out how to arrange my evenings better and use my time more wisely. i still feel like i am adjusting to this whole full time status- as i have been part time for the past 12 years....i am not sure how i worked full time when the kids were little?! in my sleep depraved state i must not have noticed how tired i was and just kept going until i feel asleep where ever i was.

as my weeds of doubt about my use of time and what i am doing with my evenings is trying to erode away and create fear within me....i need to stay focused and keep moving closer to the dream. i must be strong and believe....stop back tomorrow to see my whole project for the month's fear.....

29 faces {september edition} day 4.5.6.7

still working through my 29 faces. here are the last few days:

 day 4

day 5

 day 6- she is a hinged doll and part of a swap

day 7

29 faces {september edition}

i had been waiting for the 29 faces to start again so i could participate. i truly enjoyed this past spring even with my personal struggles in the middle portion....and a bit of an ominous start here....see her skeptical eye? wondering why i gave her green skin? why do i think i can do this? can't she have more hair? and what is with all of those wrinkles- do i have to draw those in too?

i missed day one, but, started on day 2 and did today for day 3. i am hoping to find my mojo again.....as i seem to be a bit lost...too heavy with the pencil and charcoal.

i did truly begin to appreciate the practice everyday thing- and need to stick with it this time. it may seem difficult to get started but, once you get going you have it and it will grow. i have grown a fondness for drawing/ painting faces. now i am not saying that the faces are perfect or beautiful, but, i have had a good time and that should count for something.

here is to 29 faces....so glad you are back.

charcoal love with a latte

my mom was able to come over for some studio time on saturday afternoon and told me she was bringing along some charcoal and lattes. i was thinking, "sweet! i love lattes!" little did i know that we were not going to drink the lattes.....we were going to paint with the lattes. and if you know us at all- we have done weirder things...

we decided to head outside for the painting portion of our play; and thank goodness, because we painted, splattered, and threw latte at our drawings (and it does get a bit sticky).

we started by drawing with charcoal on watercolor paper. my mom had various hardness of charcoal available to draw with. i had a couple of other options for us which included stabilo pencils.

my mom had a wonderful size watercolor pad that we shared for our first attempt. below was our first attempts.

we did discover that the harder the charcoal, the more it really "sat" on the paper and almost refused to move; so if you wanted some movement, you needed to incorporate some softer charcoal.

*our disclaimer...some of these drawings were better others :)....but, we did have a great time

happy labor day!