a bit blue

Two weeks and a day at the condo, cleaning, painting, primping - and spending time with my girls when they are not at work.  I have felted and sewn a bit, but no drawing or painting.  I am feeling a bit blue.  If you have see this video by Misty Mawn - inspiring! - then you know that some of us need to immerse ourselves in art, or things are not quite right.  The tools I have on hand, now that I have moved my studio to Rob's house, are minimal.  In spite of packing supplies to carry between visits, my scattered brain forgets and leaves things behind.  I had to buy some emergency cheapo brushes the other night, but still did not have time to make use of them until today, when the art urge could not be put off any longer.  This painting by Jane Desrosier pushed me over the edge.  Using the pose and coloring as a catalyst, I set about to make my own version 1.  (Disclaimer: Remember, I only have cruddy brushes and cheap paper, and I am not as skilled as Jane!)

First, I lightly sketched the contour onto a page in my sketchbook.

Nest, using Neocolor artist crayons, I started marking in shadows.

I continued coloring with the Neocolor crayons, until she started looking scary.  Hey, don't worry!  She'll start to look better in a little bit!  This step just helps me locate shading.

Using the white Neocolor crayon I began to blend the tones.  I learned this technique from Misty.

In this step I used a wet brush over the hair.  The Neocolors are water soluble, so now they look water colory.  I used Titanium white acrylic paint over the face.  Mixed with the Neocolors, the face begins to take on skin tones.

Ahh, I like this one!  I've added black acrylic in the background, and black crayon to define the contours.  I know from Jane Gritty Jane dolls that she likes to start with Payne's gray and build up the lights on top.  I'm mimicking that look a bit, but going backwards.

From there on I went back and forth and back and forth with the paints and the crayons.  You can see where I am now that I have overworked the painting, and this weak paper is not so forgiving.  I will add a bit more when I get back to my better brushes, but this is about as far as I can go on this page.  The important thing is not the end results, but the fact that I used the materials and exercised my art muscles.

Now I have signed up for Jane's Portrait and Paper class.  I wish I could say that I'm off to go start class, but alas, I am off to go paint the kitchen.

Nuno scarf

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the "studio" (my new digs) working on the nuno scarf I mentioned yesterday.

This was my first ever nuno project: felting into a fabric background.  It was a perfect day for it: sunny and warm, just right for working with water outside.

 In the kit I bought from Dancing Leaf Farm, there are instructions for felting using bubble wrap and tulle, but I wanted to try out this bamboo mat that I bought last summer at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival.

The scarf is laid out on the mat, sprinkled with cold water, then rolled up like this.  Applying pressure starts the felting process.

I mostly used my hands to apply the pressure. I found that rolling out bit by bit, rolling back and forth and back and forth over each section did a good job of getting the fibers to adhere to the silk scarf.

Adding hot soapy water really helped crinkled up the sides to form the ruffles.  I continued rolling with pressure, alternating hot water, cold water.

After a final rinse with cold water, the scarf was ready to hang up to dry.  Here it is fluttering in the eastside breeze.

Today's assignment: embellishing the scarf with beads!

Today's blog visit: Carla Sonheim starts a new online class today.  And it's not too late to take her husband Steve's class on photographing your artwork.  I'm signed up!