I Love my class with Jane DesRosier (Grittyjane) Portraits and Papers. I watched her very detailed videos on painting a face over collaged papers, and for my first try--I'm very happy with my face--
I think one of the things that I'm most happy with, is I actually sketched right on to the surface (a wood cradle board, in this case)---over the collaged papers. For so long now, I've been playing it safe, and sketching my face on a separate piece of paper and when I was happy with it, I would adhere it to my artwork. But I wanted the texture of the papers underneath to come through. This is what I most love about Jane's paintings. My second favorite part is all of these layers of paint on her face--you can add as little or as much as you want--there's no mistakes--the more layers, the better the depth and texture.
And the collaged paper part was fun too--
Jane shows a very easy way to get back some of the patterns of your scrapbook paper, or whatever paper that you have underneath. I've never seen it done this way, but it works wonderfully. I think next time, I'm going to try to take away even more paint. You can add lots of layers of paint this way and still bring up some of the color of the papers....but....you'll have to take her class to find out how.
So as far as how I finished the piece---well this is where my class with Mystele comes in--Gut Art. I've mentioned this class before--first one I ever took. It's a class on finding your own creative voice--in other words--your own personal style. When people tell me that they recognize my style--I'm like--really???--I have a style?? But you know what, we all do, even if we don't think that we do. I visit a lot of blogs regularly, and I can now start to pick out whose art is whose without even seeing their name. Our art is like our fingerprints--everyone's is different--even if we try to copy a piece of art from a class or another painting. It won't be the same because it's coming from us--that's what makes it one-of-a-kind. I'm telling you, I'll never stop plugging Mystele's class. The only thing about it--is that you have to be an active participant before it can click with you. I think she's having another class in the summer, if you want to check it out--it's worth it!
So my point about all of this, is that I strayed from from the rest of Jane's lesson and started adding my own "voice" to my piece--
This isn't Jane's style---it's mine!
And I also wanted to tell you about the the blog event coming in June. Kristin from Twinkle Twinkle has created a Summer of Color!
It will last for 10 weeks, and every week she'll give us a color prompt to use in our artwork. But it's much more than a weekly challenge group---go check it all out HERE. I met Kristin when I first started blogging and participated in the Mixed Media Monday challenges. I just love her endless enthusiasm for art and life in general. She's one of those ladies that I know I would love to hang out with--so I want to say--Thank You Kristin for starting this! and---Hey everyone reading this!--spread the word!!
And for everyone in the U.S.--I hope you have a great Mother's Day weekend!
