Something New Again, My New Suzi Face, and Some Exciting News About Bob!

Okay this may take a while, so grab a cup of......whatever you're drinking.  I wanted to first show you the companion piece for the sunflower I made--

My husband didn't think I was finished with it, because he didn't know what it was--which I kind of liked--it made me feel like an "artiste" (it's birds, BTW).  So now I have 3 pieces in my little series:

 

I'm very happy with all 3 of these--even thebirds

And the something new I wanted to share with you all--well, it's not really new, but it's new for me.  I still had alot of the handpainted paper scraps from all of these pieces, so I arranged them on my scanner bed to make pages--

And then I made copies of the bigger sunflower piece and reduced the size, and cut out the vase and flowers, and put that in my scanner with my new scrapbook paper--

I still like using just pieces of paper for collaging, because of the texture that you get, but when you want one of a kind scrapbook papers, this is a good way to do it.  And you can do it with anything, as long as it fits in your scanner--you just have to experiement and have a little PATIENCE (aka: my word for the year)

I used some of the papers to line an old sewing machine table drawer for a collage assemblage  that I want to put together--

And then, I wanted to show you my new Suzi face, because I'm very happy with it, and I'll tell you why:

When I sketched this face this morning, I just sat down not even intending on doing this at all--I didn't have my ruler, or my pdf sheet, and no Suzi video was going--I just started sketching.  I don't know if the dimensions or shading are right, and I don't care, because I like it.  What I like most about it, was that I just did it--I didn't feel like I was figuring out some math problem--it was more natural to me. Suzi tells us that

our  hands/fingers will remember with practice, and she's right.  The 2 main things that I wanted to learn from this class was how to make pretty soulful faces and to do it naturally.  And now I think that I might just be able to do that.  Next step--adding color : o

And now my exciting news about Bob!!

He got his license!!  They grow up so fast : (

My Suzi Class and My Word For the Year

So I've been working very hard on my first lesson in my Suzi Blu class.  This class has been a bit fustrating for me, but I love it.  I've never sketched before--I didn't know anything about graphite pencils, except for the ones I used in elementary school, so this is all new to me.  I'm sure anyone can relate to this if they're trying to learn something new--starting at the very beginning.

I've drawn 2 faces--believe me that's an accomplishment--I've lost count of how many eyes, noses, and mouths I've drawn.  I'll show you the better of the 2--keeping in mind, that I'm learning--

The reason why it's fustrating for me is that I'm working with the left side of my brain, the analytical side (I think it's the left side).  I have the pdf sheet on one side and my computer on the other with Suzi teaching me about facial features, dimensions, and of course SHADING! (if I could figure out  how to underline that word, I would--Nick can you help?)  But anyway, my brain is taking this all in, and it's learning.  And then my right side of my brain, the creative side (I'm not sure which side is which, but you know what I mean) is sitting back with the background music going, and I'm sketching away with my new set of graphite pencils.  I found that I really enjoy sketching just for the sake of it.  It relaxes me--almost like meditating--I guess that's why they call it art therapy.  So when both sides of my brain  come together, I end up enjoying it very much.

Which brings me to my word for the year.  I saw that alot of the bloggers have a word that will inspire them for the year instead of making resolutions.  I didn't think too much of it, until I started this class.  I have to allow myself to learn and to actually fail--to be patient with myself.  I'm generally a very impatient person, and when it comes to art and learning something new--it has to be perfect almost immediately.  So my word for 2010 is patience--to be easy on myself, and expect failure, but to be patient, and with practice, practice, and more practice I will do  whatever I set out to do.  You know the saying Patience is a Virtue--well it really is, and I'm planning to have it by the end of this year.