Paint Party Friday: Inspired by a Great Blue Heron

Isn't it funny what moves the muse? What inspires us to start creating?

This week it was a photo from the birdwatching column in the newspaper a few weeks ago. Once I started working in my art journal, I couldn't stop!

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Great Blue Heron in Bloom

Great Pinky Purple Heron

Great Patterned Heron

Inspiring Photo (by Bruce di Labio)

What inspired you this week? I am looking forward to visiting my PPF friends, as time allows, over the weekend.

Happy PPF!

Paint Party Friday - Finished Last 2/4 Paintings!

Happy Easter everyone!

The abstracts I started earlier this year are finally finished! And they are even hanging on my living room wall (and the nutcracker suite of paintings put away until next December...)... Yay! It really feels good to finally finish something. Here are the last two - oblongs vs bubbles...

Colourful Oblongs #1

Colourful Oblongs #2

Hanging in my Living Room

from side - to show painted edges

left two paintings - closer-up

right two paintings - closer up

I also started doodling flowers from watercolour crayon smears. It feels happy. (I think winter has been far too long for me this year!) I did these before reading Kristin's post about the doodling/abstracted flowers tutorial. Interesting timing...

Shades of Pink

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I will be by to visit as I can.

Paint Party Friday - 2/4 Finished Paintings and Faces #17-21

This weekend ended up being productive, at least as far as painting was concerned. I picked up the paintings I started a while ago and first added some more colour to the abstracts. Not really happy with how they were looking I decided to start doodling. And this is how they ended up:

Colourful Bubbles #1

Colourful Bubbles #2

On the mantle - to see if they work in the room where they will replace the Xmas nutcracker paintings. 

(Sides are also painted..)

Uncertain what to do with the other two - I decided to scan one, print copies on paper and play with several ideas:

initial abstract

Test #1 - more of the same?

Test #2 - similar but different?

I think I will go with the test #2 version on the other two paintings - it complements the bubbles but doesn't make it too excessive with them all hanging together. Unless I come up with some other idea, of course... or maybe you have a great suggestion???

I also continued Martha of Ayala Art's 29 Faces in February challenge and am now up to Face #20.

Ileana of XO had a little challenge to do Elizabeth Taylor. This is my third version - zen doodly. The other Lizs are on my last post.

#18

#19

#20

#21 - Trying a calligraphy marker and a profile... neither worked very well   :(

Hope everyone has a great week! I'm excited to see your efforts, and will do my best to drop by and say hi.

Sunday Sketches and Faces #15 and #16

Since I have been sketching faces, I finally have something with which to join in Sunday Sketches with Blue Chair Diary

These two faces are from a mini-challenge that Ileana gave on her blog - to try to capture Elizabeth Taylor. Here are my two tries (and the photo inspiration).

#15 - pastels

#16 - Paint pens

Photo inspiration

Didn't quite get her - but it was fun to try! I'm looking forward to visiting everyone over the next few days! 

Have a great week.

PPF and Faces #8 to #14

This week I decided to try doing faces in oil pastels. They are an interesting medium to work in. You can blend like paint so that is fun. Not sure that I quite have the hang of it, but there is a lot about them that I like - except the messiness of course!

I am still trying for the 29 Faces in February challenge to explore not only a diversity of media (though all in my "Faces" journal) but also of faces - men, women, children and different ages and races.

#8 - I think my favourite this week though this boy looked even younger in the photo

#9

#10 - Tried to do a "Black and White" (and shades of grey)

#11 - messed up her eyes and mouth - oh well...

#12

#13

#14 - For Valentine's Day - a heart shaped face

There is definitely a resemblance of my faces to all of the photos I used as inspiration, though I have yet to feel I captured a face perfectly. Sometimes though I think it is the imperfections that give these character...     ;)

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day! See you over the weekend.

Paint Party Friday Week 48 and #4 to #7 for 29 Faces in February

I have continued working away at Martha's/Ayala Art's challennge 29 Faces in February. So far so good! I decided to switch from using last week's watercolour crayons to my paint pens (using the newspaper for facial inspiration...) I always find male faces especially challenging so I am trying to do a variety of sexes and ages. (Of course the older ones look younger and the younger older... unsure how to rectify that...)

#4

#5 - He definitely looks younger than the photo...

#6 - She is/was a child so somehow I have aged her...

#6

I have also started painting again in 2013 but am only making slow progress. These are my 4 abstracts/works-in-progress...

Abstract WIPs at the UGLY stage...

For Christmas I hung up the Nutcracker paintings I did last year. After undecorating all of the house but these, I decided I wanted to try to create some abstracts to hang in their place the rest of the year.

I hung the painting using these:

and thought it might be easier to substitute different paintings than pull the hangers off... Has anyone used either strategy?

Anyways - lots of work ahead on those abstracts!

Looking forward to (slowly) visiting you all over the weekend! Happy PPF everyone!

29 Faces for February 2013 - #1, #2 and #3

Back at it! 

I haven't done much creatively lately, so when Martha at Ayala Art restarted her 29 faces in February, it inspired me to (get off my butt and) start sketching again!

These first ones were done using watercolour crayons. Why the coloured faces? I really don't know!

She reminds me of a  undersea siren...

Funny how the scan almost gives him an evangelical aura....

a little jaundiced?

Well, off to a colourful start! Last year I really felt this challenge improved my ability to draw faces. While I have regressed somewhat, I hope it has the same effect this year.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone is up to...