when the table drawing is good. love restaurants with crayons.

• thankful for the time with family
• happy for the return of college kids with good stories
• totally enjoyed the conversations
• good food and drink

happy monday. 

xo. kristin

face simplicity {squared}

love the simplicity 

#blackandwhite #faces #pencil #stabillo #square 

tgif. 

xx.

kristin

sometimes truthfully it is better in black and white.

i have been struggling to make it to the studio to do anything. between work and home projects that needed attention before the weather really changes....studio time has been nil.

so much, so that doubt and that fragile personal artistic view of what i can do was creeping in to tunnel my vision at the worst time as i have deadlines coming.

wanting to find some inspiration and push myself out of this funk- i realized i hadn't posted this face. maybe for various reasons (damn doubt)....but, it is interesting and raw. 

and to be honest...sometimes that is all that is needed. nothing close to perfect or pretty. but, to add some quirky artist randomness, i had used this page for whatever reason as a color palette testing out colors along the edges. silly girl.

black and white.

the rawness and shades of grey.

sometimes the best.

stumbling  through this dark tunnel.

happy friday.

xo. kristin

she {planner journal}

i managed to find a very cool sized daily planner.

to keep me organized?! nooooo....well maybe. my purpose was to do regular journaling, writing and if i happened to make some art in it.....great!

i was jotting down some notes while in the airport and then drew her.

ink, colored watercolor pencil, and Jayne Davenport's new white (well mine might not be any more) marker.

and- 29 faces starts today!! are you joining in?

happy wednesday.

xo. kristin

tgif {face on delipaper}

tgif.

xo. kristin

cardboard portrait

in one of my FB group, our challenge this time was to make a portrait on cardboard. i was feeling a little rusty as i have not had much studio time this past month; but, once the gesso was on the paper, the paint flowed and ran, and she appeared.

cardboard, gesso, acrylic paint, pencil, watercolor crayon, hi-flow ink, pen, charcoal

i was very happy with how she turned out. i can only hope my swap partner likes it as much as i do!

filtered {artjournal}

tuesday's girl would always need a filter

#artjournal #facefull

i purchased the journal as a package deal that came with two journals at Barnes and Noble. and if i am speaking honestly, these journals were probably meant for writing. notes, quotes, thoughts, dreams.....not for painting.

so using this for art has been somewhat challenging as the paper is thin. nice, actually very nice, but, thin, i paint wet and tend to be fairly abusive to any surface i am working on; so on more than one occasion, i ripped through the paper in this journal either with my pencil or simply by working my paint. sometimes working through unexpected and inherent problems can be interesting and add a twist to the work.

as i continued to work in this journal- i became wiser with collage placement and tended to use much more by the end of the journal. usual spots for my collage paper would be through the eyes or mouth. and i did like the neck area and sometimes used masking tape for the sides of the head.

these wise eyes know as they have seen the rest of this journal. my goal was to fill this entire journal with faces. i do have one more page to go; so hang in there with me...one more face and then this journal will be full.

happy thursday.

#DLP advice offered

August 22
Art Challenge: Layered (Using Multiple Mediums)
Journal Prompt:  Speak to your younger self- what advice would you offer?

i maybe didn't use as many layers as i may be capable of; but, i like this girl and she has plenty of advice to tell my younger self.

• don't worry so much about what you look like; always be you
• i am not perfect (nor is anyone else)
• don't worry about whether or not others like you; some will, some won't and some will be on the fence....but, focus on those who do and like you for who you are and leave the rest behind and don't look back- keep moving forward

• enjoy flowers- the colors, the smells, and the wonderful shapes and textures
• don't follow the group- this is a piece of fabric for my background; create your own path
• be part of a group you love and share a passion with- be happy
• be interesting

happy monday!

21 secrets {art journal} face

i am participating in 21 secrets but, find it soooo much easier to watch the videos on wednesdays and then, work in my own art journal.

here is my face for this past week's lesson.....

i laid down paper scraps from my counter first.... layering the papers. i love the peeks of the papers sneaking out between the layers of paint and ink. i had gesso'd the papers once down to pull them together and fade the papers just a bit into the background. i sketched my outline with a blendable pencil and followed up with ink; blending some pencil lines and not others. 

in my journal not all the paper sit down glued tight to the paper and like the look and feel. i like the uncertainty of the lips and the oddly large eye and watery, black ink runs with the peeks of pink.....