Class 15 PYH&S 2018-Spirit Horse

I am working on four classes at the same time, so from now on they will not be posted in the consecutive order, but as I finish them. I also decided to wait about doing the encaustic class (#12), because I do not have room to set it up right now. I'm going to have to do some cleaning and organizing in my work place first.

I also skipped ahead a couple of classes to do this class, because everyone was having so much fun with it and posting such wonderful pictures. It is class 15 in the PYH&S 2018 course (link on sidebar), and this is my version of Pamela Hayward's painted horse head. I used her reference picture, even though I wanted to paint the old gray mare that I had as a child. I just didn't want to take time to track it down.

Pam's was painted on a canvas or panel, but I used mixed media paper in my journal. As with the other paintings in the classes a canvas would have worked much better, but I just don't have the room, so they're going in a journal for practice. We used only black and white acrylic paints and her technique to create this.

Again, I do not always follow the instructor's lesson. I tend to get sidetracked into adding my own twists into the pieces, or I watch the video, then do the painting from memory, which is not so reliable anymore, and I tend to leave out steps. Anyway, I learn, and it's fun, therefore it's good for me, regardless of how it turns out! :)

Sketch on black gesso and black paint background from her reference photo...

First layer, then I forgot to photograph the progress until...

it was finished. I may have gotten a bit carried away with the mane and forelock, but I like it, so it's all good! Such a fun lesson! I do plan on doing one of my old gray mare, Ole Pat, soon!

I think Pam's second lesson in the course is an owl using these techniques. That should be fun too!

Hope you enjoy my efforts! Don't give up in your creative efforts. They are worth it! <3

Class 9 PYH&S 2018-"Joyful Journey" Mixed Media Storytelling

This class in storytelling with art was a lot of fun, and was inspired by Pia Rom's class in Paint Your Heart and Soul (link on sidebar). It is mixed media on paper in my journal (hers was on canvas or board) and involves painting, collage, and imagination, as well as other media, whatever was handy

First layer of black and white collage elements includes a few magazine images, a printed off pinterest image from another project, torn music pages from a piano book, a circle punched out, some book text, a value scale from another project, an original photo reversed and printed, and two recycled teabags that I experimented with prints and gold leaf on, basically whatever was laying around my workspace. 

I didn't necessarily follow the teacher's instructions in telling this story. I watched all the videos, then did the piece from what I could remember of her techniques, which means I might have left out some of hers and added in some of mine. 😳 Anyway, I added a layer of drawing and paint to tie the images together.

Added more drawing with a black stabilo pencil and acrylic paints, covering some images and bringing out others..

I added a wooden fabric stamp with black paint and tried to make the figures on the left look like one is pulling the other out of water, not very successfully, but I tried. I kept fiddling with the overall piece until...

it looked like this and I could live with it. There could be several stories going on here! I deliberately left the name of our town's old theatre backwards, and the seal represents the river running by our town, although we actually have no seals here in the south. It's kind of like a "fish out of water" thing, because I have always felt like a fish out of water.

When I look at this piece, it brings up all sorts of emotional stuff for me, even though the first layer of collage images were picked up and glued on randomly. It tells a story of me!

Perhaps one day I will write text to go with my art, because when I look back at older pieces, I can relate to when and what was going on with me when I created the drawings and paintings! I look forward to doing that.

Keep creating whatever you love! It's good for your soul! 💝

Quirky Doodle Sketches-Two Birds and a Goat

More quirky doodle sketching with the Lyra water-soluble crayon in my mixed media journal with a water brush pen!

Doing these is so relaxing!

Quirky Doodle Girls

Female characters who emerged from the random doodling marks in my mixed media journal with a Lyra water-soluble crayon, no water...yet!

Class 8 PYH&S 2018-"She Wore Flowers in her Hair"

Mixed media painting on paper in 9"x12"  journal inspired by Tracy Verdugo in class 8 of the PYH&S 2018 (link on sidebar)-No collage. Tracy painted on a canvas, which would work much better. I just don't have room for so many canvases, so I'm doing mine on mixed media paper. I gessoed it, but it's still kind of slick.

First layer of acrylic paint and marks and stenciling. I like it this way and hated to cover it up!

Kept adding paint and marks until the face and bird started emerging and kind of blocked them in.

More layers of paint, runs, and marks, and started bringing features out. I see that one eye is quite a bit lower than the other and the bird body is too long to suit me.

Evened up the eyes and added more layers of paint...

More adjusting and layering, plus added some flowers in her hair...

Continued to layer and refine, shortened the bird's body and like it much better. Used citra solve on a rag to remove some of the background paint between the iridescent pink runs. Needed something for the left upper corner, so instead of painting, I used a circle punch to cut circle landscapes out of a paper that I used to clean my brushes off on and collaged them onto the painting. She looks nothing like Tracy's, and I did some stuff that she didn't, but I'm pretty happy with her like she is, plus, I learned a lot, which is the object of the class! Fun stuff!

Keep learning and keep creating! It's good for you! :)

Class 6 PYH&S 2018-Mixed Media-Look In The Paint

This is class 6 of Paint Your Heart and Soul 2018 (link on sidebar), intuitive painting, and was inspired by Mystele Kirkeeng, but not like hers. In fact, I forgot one of the beginning layers. But that's okay, I learned a lot from Mystele and will do some more using her techniques!

First layer...

Second layer...

After adding more layers of texture and paint, this lady's image invited me to set her free. This is the first time I've ever tried to paint a lady of color.

I took some of the hair off the top so it didn't look as square, added some texture, brought out the texture and her dress, and added more layers to her skin and eyes.

I toned down the background and kept adding more layers and textures over all.

I added more lights and worked on her eyes some more and called her done. I kept on until I got her skin too light and covered up most of the collage and textures underneath, but she was a good experience and taught me a lot. The word, help, is showing through on her left chest, but not too good in this photo. She has a story, and I'm happy she told it to me. I did way better than I thought I would, and I love her! LOVE intuitive drawing and painting!

Moving on to class 7, which is a graphite portrait! Not a fan of graphite drawing, but we'll see how it turns out!

A Couple of Quirky Doodle Girls

Lyra water-soluble crayon on mixed media paper in my journal...

I used the water-soluble crayon on this doodle, but I liked as is, so didn't use any water on her.

I first saw a kneeling child among the random marks, but it morphed into a pregnant woman somehow, and I added water to this one. She was a surprise, but I like her!

PYH&S 2018-Class 5-Mixed Media "From Heart to Spirit"

Telling a story in mixed Media on MM paper in a 9" x 12" journal, acrylic/gesso background, collage, stablio pencil, acrylic paints, photo print, stencil blank, gel pens, and possibly colored pencils. Class 5 in the PYH&S 2018 (link is on sidebar) course inspired by Annie Hamman, but not like hers.

Starting collage with found papers, napkins, paper doilies, music, teabag envelope, tickets, and some painted scraps from other projects.

I used this photo from Pinterest for the pose, but changed her for my purposes.

I also used this photo from Pinterest for the idea of the horse, but didn't use it.

I did, however, use an original stencil blank, which I traced around, that I had made previously, of my first childhood horse, Old Pat. She was an old gray gentle mare, and she was awesome. I printed off the clown photo, used graphite to coat the back, and used an old pen to transfer the outline of her, which didn't come through very well, so I still had to basically draw her, much of it with paint. I pretty much covered up my collage, which I didn't mean to do. I did leave a phrase showing through, and there are other elements showing through that are not showing up in the photo.

I found the owl and the hat in a magazine, cut them out, and collaged them on and added the ticket stub.

Worked more on everything in paint, collaged another napkin town over the first on, because I had pretty much obliterated the first one, added a printed off photo of the little dog who owned us for almost sixteen years, Kibbles, and painted her a little drum to sit on, then added some details. The phrase just in front of the town is torn from a piece of sheet music and says, "I'll be waiting."

Still adding more layers of paint, plus more napkin pieces with French writing and flowers collaged on, and I gave Old Pat butterfly wings.

Still playing and trying different things, including a little clown suit on Kibbles!

"I'll Be Waiting"

The version I stopped on, after some more adjusting and details. It could have some more work done, but I like it here, for now, so I'm moving on to the next class. Wish I'd painted it on a wooden panel instead of paper in my journal! Oh, well! This piece taught me a lot, so I'm happy! Plus, I loved the process, and learning to tell a story, even if I didn't follow Annie explicitly! 😊

Quirky Doodle Ptg-Winter In Summer

Mixed Media on paper in my journal using black stabilo pencil, collage, and acrylic paints.

The character that emerged from my random marks...

I collaged a torn napkin onto the paper, but forgot to make a picture of that step. The napkin was thin enough for the drawing to show through, so I added a layer of acrylic paint. It then occurred to me that I had a summer background, and she was wearing a fur cape. I'm thinking, as she is an older lady, that she is in the winter of her life, but still enjoying life's little treasures.

I tore and collaged a paper heart onto her cape, and added more layers of paint.

I kept adding layers to her face and cape until I could live with her, then added a couple of details and high lights, called her done, and left her to reflect on her life thus far. I love her!

Quirky Doodle Ptg-Mr. Orange Cat and Ms Mouse

Mixed-media quirky doodle painting using inktense pencils, gel pen, acrylic paints, stencils, colored pencils, and a stablio black marks all pencil. I have already saved the sketch to a back up drive, so didn't have it handy to add, but you can see the sketch that emerged from my marks pretty clearly in the first layer of color.

First layer of color with inktense color blocks; Mr. Orange was in the midst of washing his left hind leg when something caught his attention, thus he's still sitting on his right hip.

I added some dots with a bought stencil and some lace using a paper lace doily. Wait! What has his attention? Something moved in his peripheral vision!

I added a few layers of black stabilo pencil and acrylic paints, and I got the idea to add the mouse and hole in the wall with paynes gray acrylic.

I added whiskers on both, a tail on Ms Mouse, some glazing on Mr. Orange, circles around the dots, more of a shadow under them, and a couple of high lights and called it down, for now!

Ms Mouse is wondering what Mr. Orange is watching for!

Quirky Doodle-Super Bear!

Look who popped out of my random marks to say hello! Lyra water-soluble crayon on rag paper, also in my journal.

I love her! 😊

One day I'm going to write my interpretation of these sketches and what was going on with my life at the time, or maybe fictional short stories to go with them?

Quirky Doodle Wabbit!

Lyra water-soluble crayon and water brush on rag paper...

Quirky Hearts and Bird Sketches

It's been a busy week, and my eyes are giving me some trouble, because of slow growing brown cataracts, plus, I've had the toothache, but I managed to get in a couple of quirky doodle sketches Monday and Tuesday. Water-soluble Lyra crayon on 100% rag paper with a water brush in my sketchbook.

This little bird emerged sleeping on a flower. At first, I thought he was dead, but now I think he's just sleeping. Love him! He reminds me of myself. When I get depressed, overwhelmed, fatigued, or life just gets to be a bit much for, I tend to take a nap! :)

These hearts emerged after a trip to the Dr. for a checkup and bloodwork, which didn't divulge good news for me. But I love the hearts and teardrops! Perhaps, because my heart is currently trying to mend from losing my mom and my father-in-law so close together in the last few months.

Wednesday was a trip to the dentist, where I had xrays and an exam to see what needed to be done, since I had some broken teeth. I have a couple that hurt off and on. After the exam, I had the toothache until Thursday night, then not at all Friday.

Thursday and, this morning, I worked on a class assignment in acrylic painting/collage that I started before my father-in-law got sick and passed at the beginning of February. It's for the Paint Your Heart and Soul 2018 (link is on sidebar) year long course, which I have fallen way behind on, but that's okay. It's available from now on, so I can take my time, which I want to do, because I'm learning a lot from each teacher.

Hubby came down with a nasty bad cold night before last, and is feeling really bad today. I hate when he's sick. He's usually such a vibrant personality that it's really weird when he's quiet and still. Praying that he feels better soon!

Anyway, I'm really trying hard to keep up with everything, especially my art, but it's a struggle for me, as I know it is for you. Don't quit! The art thing is worth it! It's good for our soul! :D

More Animal Quirky Sketches

Yesterday and the day before's quirky doodle sketches! I got lazy about cropping them this time. They are also in my MM sketchbook, also using a Lyra water-soluble graphite crayon and a water brush. I'm loving this crayon, although I didn't spend as much time on these. My mind was a little distracted.

Mr. Cat

Fantasy Flower

Rabbit Dog?