Hands and Heart Teaching FREE videos

After feeling bad that I can't afford any art classes right now, I decided that I will take advantage of some of my favorite online artists right now that through their loving heart make videos that teach techniques for us to learn from. Why not take advantage of it I asked myself, so I did.

Steps were:
1. gesso watercolor paper.
2. After dry, I did various layers of acrylic paint and scraped the layers on.
3. Made my own spray paint by adding acrylic paint to water in cute little water
bottles and sprayed various layers on the paper.
4. Put a stencil down, and sprayed the stencil.
5. Took white acrylic paint and scraped it in places on the paper
6. REMEMBER! Let layers dry
7. Place shapes of papers down, and spray (you will have the results of various
shapes sprayed on your paper.
8. I then cut the paper into 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 rectangles, ready for ATC's
9. Like Hands and Heart, I selected one of my face stamps and stamped down
with antique brown ink the face.
10. From that point, I used peach, creme and white for the face.
11. Used watercolor pencils and graphtint pencils to draw and add shading.
12. When I felt like the painting was done enough, I then added a couple of small
stamps with ink.
13. Then I squirted three types of glitter to make it sparkly.

If you go to Hands and Heart, you will see the free videos which have not been removed yet, and you can learn and practice. Mine looks very different from the other ATC's that were posted, but that is fine. I learned alot about layers.

Wife, Artist and Mother

What did I do today? Well, after a rough night last night of feeling like I was coming down with a flu again, and not knowing how would I feel this morning after having those types of random and ongoing dreams you have when you don't feel well, I was able to get up and accomplish wife duties, artsy things and motherly talks.

My computer is broken, all of our printers aren't working so I borrowed my hubbies computer while he was doing errands. I have been working on a life planning journal; an idea I got from a book called "Right Brain Business Plan". In my life plan, I have wifely things to do, motherly ideas and of course artist's ideas because that is who I am. I got to watch a video from Hands and Heart and practice some techniques for an ATC. I watched a Strathmore Painting free video for week two on more techniques for a journal. I watched videos from the author of Right Brain and gathered ideas for my future business ventures.

I cleaned my kitchen counter and everything on it. I folded a load of laundry and washed one. I cleaned up all of the garbage outdoors that animals got into and the garbage men did not take because it wasn't in the exact spot they wanted it and the snow mound held them back for reaching for the bags. Neighbor commented on the bags so I got out there and cleaned up.

Supper was made of left over corned beef and onions and potatoes. The good old food processor was used to slice up the corned beef in small pieces. I browned onions in a stick of butter and microwaved six potatoes. I cubed the potatoes, stuck them in the melted butter and onions and then added the corned beef. I fried them till everything was brown and heated.

Tried to load up a driver for a printer.

Picked up my son from work at night.

Now watching the news.

Had so much more I wanted to do. Maybe tomorrow. Hopefully I will feel better and then off to the train station to take my other son to the train in the morning.

Maybe even a new computer in the afternoon. Yea! Thank you husband for letting me borrow your computer.

A Different Way of Drawing with Different Mediums

For years, I have been learning about the measurements of the face; 1/2 down is the eyes, 1/2 down from the eyes and chin is the nose etc. Those measurements have to be practiced and almost memorized for a person like me. The edges of the nose meets the corner part of the inner eye...and so on.
Then there is the practice of the eyes separate, the nose, the lips especially because they are all shadows and pigment colors of the skin.
When I watch Willowing, Suzi Blue, Milliande, or Monica from Hands and Heart, I love watching them place all of the face parts down in their drawings, and then their build up of shadows and color with pencil and paint. "I want to draw like them or paint like them" I think. Well the word is "practice, practice, practice".
And then, the new way I have been doing, make a copy of masters faces, and take that pencil, charcoal or marker and trace and copy on top of their eyes and noses, and lips and ears, hair and shape of face. Believe me, this is so helpful. You are not pliagerizing. I find this tracy affect is so helpful, it seems to make an imprint inn the brain on how the line qualities, shadows and shapes really make up the face. Another way is to lay tracing paper on top of the photo copy and trace and retrace. I am sure that if you practice this different way of drawing-tracing-it will help you with the placement of these things in your own drawing whether you enjoy realism, folk art style faces, cartoon, pen and ink, painting, or whatever, the whole face will be solidified in your mind.
Remember, this is just drawing exercise like when you are working out on the weight bench, and you do and redo curls, this becomes a repetitive pattern, you may go up with the weight, but you are doing the repeat over and over to build up muscle and tonality. This is what you are doing in drawing. Appreciation of art is a wonderful thing, and if you do this type of exercise, you will come to enjoy the masters and begin to see their differences in techniques.
The Mona Lisa that I have in a previous post is a good one to practice on first. I even wanted to check to see if the measurements were right and if the eyes were in the middle of the head. They are!
Have fun and if you want, just throw the tissue paper or copies away later, it is just exercise to make you a master!