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Friday, February 28, 2014

I am not happy with Faces 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

Yes, it's ugly. I am NOT proud of the quality of these faces.  The drawings look childish and poorly rendered. So why leave them in my blog?   I left them here for a reason.  I am human.  I make "bad" art choices and works just like anyone else, even after majoring in art, teaching art, and practicing off and on for years. But I preach to my students to keep their "bad" work, date it and put it away.  Look back later to see how much you have progressed.  It's like seeing a child's development.  You don't notice the changes so much when you are with them, but go away for a few months and the growth is evident.   

How often do I hear  that people think they aren't artistic or creative?  I believe that anyone who believes this either hasn't discovered the right media or hasn't practiced making art long enough to discover their own potential. 

I hear the same thing over and over..."I can't draw a straight line."  News flash!.... Use a ruler!  And be aware that most straight lines are boring.     It is important to understand that anyone can have a bad day, but anyone who wants to learn to draw, paint, or create other arts can do so! 

I had the wrong goal with these faces.  I wanted to get all 29 finished by the deadline, so I sat down and did a collage of faces tonight.  I made a watercolor splash and tried to find faces in it..  I did not reach the 29 face goal, but I did remind myself to slow down and enjoy the process.  Don't worry so much about the outcome.  This is a lesson that I have to remind myself of over and over.  ENJOY making the art and with perseverance and practice, you will produce quality work.









The next one reminds me so much of my brother. The likeness was not intentional, but he has been on my mind a lot lately.

RIP my dear Jimmy.....











I\ more faces I drew the more careless I became....a sure sign of fatigue and focusing on the wrong goals.
.











Face 19 Buffalo Roamed




I completed this face the day before this challenge actually began, so this may be a little stretch, but I worked so passionately on it that I thought I should include it.  I found the rusty car hood beside old Rt. 66. Although I was happy to find a free art "canvas," I am saddened that such discarded items are so readily available along our highways.  Route 66 was  the labeled a romantic, scenic route of our past...and consider what was there before the highway was built.



Buffalo Roamed

51" X 53"

To purchase, contact Linda Ann at studioabsee@yahoo.com for price and details.

Face 18 Lady Valentine

Hasn't every little girl dreamed of owning a horse?  I finally got mine when I was an adult.  Lady Valentine was a beautiful white Arabian.   I loved watching her run in the the pasture even more than I loved riding her.  A beautiful creature... One day when I was petting her and noticed the veins in her face  looked like vines..


                                               I made a pen and ink sketch back then...


I turned that drawing into this painting.





Lady Valentine

To purchase, contact Linda Ann at studioabsee@yahoo.com for price and det


 Lady Valentine, I miss you.  I hope you are still running in heavenly pastures......
....

Face 17 Valentine Fairy

Whimsy is not my normal style, though I wanted to try it.  I created a whimsy valentine for a challenge in Pamela Joy's group in Mixed Media Workshops. It was great fun.  I often turn to old hymnals for my collages, and you see that effect in this fairy's skin.

  I cropped this face from the larger collage.  It was fun and I will definitely explore more whimsy in March.  My goal is to create some three dimension whimsy dolls and characters during the next month.  It is time to clean out my found object collections!

Face 16 Dupon

  Because I began the challenge late, I for some of my faces I am using portions of paintings I did during this period that included paintings.  I cropped the head from the collage. The media is acrylic paint, feathers, ink, magazine pages.  But my favorite part was a shopping bag that I bought at Christimas in Italy    If you look closely on the center of the large feathers, you may see a crest with the word "Dupon"  The Italians graciously wrap each purchase during the holidays without even asking with lovely papers and tiny stylish embellishments.  I could not find a translation for this world and I believe  Dupon was the name of the store, thought I cannot remember for sure.  

Buon Natale, Amore Mios!!!




Dupon

To purchase, contact Linda Ann at studioabsee@yahoo.com for price and details.


Monday, February 24, 2014

Face 15 Little Fairy

I never like my fairies, but I keep drawing them....maybe someday I will try a whimsy one....???
I did have fun drawing the wings.
watercolor, ink, colored pencil, and ball-point pens

Face 14 Destiny

An imaginary face.  She looks like a "Destiny" to me...
5 " x 7"  Pencil' on drawing paper


Face 13 Watercolor Girl

11 " x 14 "  Watercolor and graphite on mixed media drawing pad
Watercolor experiment
I like to splash watercolor and find pictures in it after it dries.  So help me, I couldn't find a thing inthis one and then  there was a face, not looking out at me, but down at something I could not see

Face 12 Seneca

Seneca
Graphite on drawing paper


Face 11 Boy Reading


Saturday, February 22, 2014

FACE 10- Muscogee Girl is done

Face 10  Muscogee Girl completed!  I love to draw feathers.....
9"x 12" graphite on drawing paper

Friday, February 21, 2014

Face 9 Muscogee girl, work in progress

This one is a long way from finished, a work in progress....
Since I prefer to spend more time than I have in one day to complete a composition, I find myself rushing through for these 29 face challenges.  I know I am not going to get to all 29 faces anyway, so I am opting to show what progress I make in a  day and return to it the next day...so while I call this my face 9, it may also become face 10.....
It is also an experiment with a different approach to pencil sketching that I have not done this way.
Everything done on this sketch so far is from a regular school pencil, the old number 2!  I will be trying other softer pencils tomorrow to enhance the composition.


Face 8, first quick sketch of Baby Brit


My first sketch of Baby Brit was done very fast...Those eyes just swallowed me...  I only had a small piece of paper and a regular number 2 pencil.  Not my best work but it was a beginning.


Face 7 Sleeping, a painting in progress

F

A work in progress.  I put this on mixedmediaworkshops.com for a critique because I am totally dissatisfied with it as is.  I received some great fedback from one of the members there and I will probably finish this soon.  

Feeling more hopeful.....

Face 6 Addy Gets her Name


Add

To purchase, contact Linda Ann at studioabsee@yahoo.com for price and details.

y



Papers were blowingt across my yard while I was drawing this face.  Upon inspection, I found that they were the schoolwork of "Addy", who is apparently much younger than the drawing (about third grade), but since I could not find the owner of the school homework, I named this drawing after the little girl who lost her homework.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Face 5 Scarecrow, work in progress

  
Going to do a bit of touch up and dress him and make a scarecrow for my yard next fall.  I found the cutest clothes to complete the look at a thrift shop.  And I have a few black feathers to add and some hay for the feet and hands. Do you think he will scare away my owl, my hawks,  the mockingbird that sings all night, the cardinals or the flocks and flocks of robins that have invaded my yard this winter? 

LOL


Thursday, February 13, 2014

Face 4


 The first moment I saw this baby I knew I had to capture it on paper    Baby Brit

Graphite on paper

Face 3
More fun with watercolor pencils, ink and mixed media paper






Angela

To purchase, contact Linda Ann at studioabsee@yahoo.com for price and details.


Face 2, Lilly

Face 2 

Exploring new media.....bought a pad specifically for mixed media and new watercolor pencils
Watercolor and ink on Mixed Media paper






Lilly

Watercolor and Ink


To purchase, contact Linda Ann at studioabsee@yahoo.com for price and details.




Face 1, Imaginary face

Face 1 
Quick  sketch , graphite on paper, imaginary face
It is what I did today, but I have a hard time posting compositions that don't turn out like I hope....
Not what I had in mind, but good practice, I suppose.




Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Brrr...cold!!!

It's February in Oklahoma and you can expect most anything in the weather here at any time of the year..We can go from short shorts to heavy winter wear in a day  Unfortunately we are experiencing the area's "normal" bitter cold weather. Feeling sorry for those who have to work out in this.  Slick streets and water main breaks are not fun.

 My biggest complaint is that my studio is on a separate heating control and it is drafty in there.  Bringing my supplies to another room is a very messy option.  I was hoping to clean while ten of mypieces of art are on display.  My art opening ofI nspired Artists Society was last Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014.  My work will be there until the end of Feb. Location:  Tulsa Community College Southeast Campus Student Union.  A great display space for the six artists in the show.

Maybe I will have some cleaning time in the studio before Feb.ends.  Here's hoping!

L ANN SMITH