Enjoying My Life

Hellooooooooooooo out there!  I know…I have been a bad blogger.  Sometimes life gets in the way – in a GOOD way, but in the way just the same.  I do have some completed art to show you, though.  They are both on canvas – the big eyed girl is 8″ x 10″ and the blue piece is 11 x14″.

I was totally inspired by Adriana Almaza, whose art is absolutely fabulously cute, funky, and totally my personal taste!

The second piece was created as an assignment for Julie Pritchard’s Layer Love workshop.  I highly recommend this workshop if you are just learning to paint with acrylics.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!  However, I believe Julie is retiring this workshop on May 31, so if you’re interested, now is the time.  AND, she’s even reduced the price!  One of the things I love about Julie’s workshops are that they are NEVER completely retired.  Once you register, you have access to all of the videos, and online discussion forums FOREVER!  So, you can totally take your time, and if you need to, you can go back and refresh your memory, and be re-inspired all over again.

37 Days

What would you do if you knew you only had 37 days to live?  Hello my friends.  I just wanted to share something that could possibly be the thing that could change your life.  I believe it is changing mine.  It is a book.  But, it is more than a book.  It is inspiration, introspection, and more.  I couldn’t possibly write a blog post that would compare to what this woman has written.  Not even close.  The name of the book is “Life is a Verb”.  It’s written beautifully – by Patti Digh.  I bought it kind of by mistake – I thought it was an art journaling book, which it is, kind of.  But, not really.  It’s a self-help book, but it isn’t.  It’s a life story, but it isn’t exactly that, either.  Read it.  Or don’t.  I devoured it in about 3 days.

I feel compelled to share this audio with you.  You can listen to it, or not.  It could change your life. 

http://37days.typepad.com/Verb.m4a

Kim xo

Another “Fabulous” Face?

My first painting on canvas.  Lots of collage, and layers of Golden acrylic fluid paints, Neocolor II watercolor crayons, ink, texture paste, etc.  Not sure I’m diggin’ the flowers…I was going to stamp a butterfly where the flowers are, but changed my mind.  I may change my mind again!

Fabulous Faces Week 3

Hello my friends!  I am continuing to LOVE LOVE LOVE learning to draw and paint faces!  Tam is such an awesome instructor.  I can’t believe how far I’ve come in just a few short weeks.  If you have ever wondered if you could draw and paint portraits, consider taking Tam’s course.  I am not working for Tam in any way, just a huge fan based on my own personal experience.

This week’s lesson is drawing and shading a 3/4 portrait in colour.  Take a peek, and see what you think.  You can click on the image for a larger view.

Fabulous Faces 3/4 facing portrait

Don’t you just love the flowing hair?  I was going for the “underwater hair” look.  Tam’s inspiration, of course.  The mediums used are Neocolor II watercolor crayons, Golden fluid acrylics, and graphite pencil.  Oh, and I used a Zig Millennium pigment ink black pen for some details around the eyes.

10 Rules of Life by Willowing (Tam)

This is hilarious!  Thank you, Willowing, for making me giggle today. 

Soft & Cuddly Fabric Covered Journal!

Hello my friends!  It has been a few days since I’ve posted.  What have I been up to?  Thank you for asking!  I’ve been working on a cloth journal – hand made, from start to finish, with the help of Julie Prichard’s awesome online instruction!  I have to admit – this was not an easy book to make.  I think this technique of book-making probably takes a lot of practice.  BUT, I am pretty happy with my final result.  See what you think:

The back cover and spine:

Some inside details:

That’s it for now!  Thank you so much for stopping by. 

I’m working on my “Fabulous Faces” skills now.  Let’s see if my results are blog worthy.

I took 2 of Julie’s online courses – Layer Love, and Super Nova.  She is currently offering a class along with Chris Cozen – they are calling it “Project Deconstruction”.  I would love to take this course!  Take a peek here.  However, I plan on winning it, but you can try if you want. 

Today’s Art

I {heart} {Art}

Hello my fellow artists!  I have some new drawings, and my very first EVER painting!  Yep!  I painted a portrait!  And, I think I did okay for my first time!  I learned a lot about acrylic paint, watercolor crayons, watersoluble oil pastels, and graphite pencils and crayons!  What a fun experiment it was!  This was the result of the second class of Willowing’s Fabulous Faces workshop.

First, here are a couple of drawings that I did last week. I was totally inspired by the style of the fabulous Tam’s (Willowing) drawing here.

And now….*drum roll*….

I just LOVE her purple hair!  Here’s Tam’s feedback and suggestions:

Subtle changes – make such a huge difference!  She just lowered her lips, and lengthened her chin, and deepened the shading.  WHOA!  So much fun.

Thank you SO MUCH for taking a peek at my blog today.  Feel free to leave me a comment – it makes me smile.

Another Fabulous Face!

Hey everyone!  TGIF!  This week has been so long, hasn’t it?  It’s been bitterly cold here in SW Ontario, and we’ve gotten quite a bit of snow.  I haven’t felt great this week, either, so I have hardly left the house!  It gave me lots of opportunity to practice my graphite drawing skills ala Willowing’s Fabulous Faces Workshop!  If you are like me, and always wanted to be able to draw, but never really knew if you could do it, I highly recommend this course.  We are only one week in to the course, and my skills have grown by leaps and bounds!  I highly recommend it!

The instruction is so easy to follow – it’s like magic!  I was impressed with my very first drawing!  (I’m a legend in my own mind lol).  I’ve been practicing all week, and find myself learning more with each project.  I posted a couple of girls earlier this week, and, since then, Tam (Willowing) gave me some tips on how to make her less “surprised”, or wide eyed.  She actually took my scanned image, and touched it up in photoshop, and posted her results, like so:

Whoah!  How cool is THAT?

So, based on her comments, I enhanced my original photo.  Here is the before and after (I used my pencil instead of PHotoshop :

AND, here’s my latest drawing.

What do you think?  I would love to hear your comments.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Willowing ROCKS!

Hello my friends.   Well, I have two more pretty ladies to show you today.  I’ve been practing the graphite drawing skills I’m learning from Willowing (Tam).  I started her “Fabulous Faces” online workshop this past week.  This first week’s instruction was how to draw a front-facing woman with graphite pencil.  I’ve been drawing every day, after I go to bed.  I’m not sure that I’m getting the best possible result when I’m drawing in a horizontal position, with my sketchbook on my lap!    I should try drawing from an upright/sitting position lol.  That’s my goal for today.  In the meantime, here’s a couple of sketches from last night.  I still have a long way to go, but the practicing is SO MUCH FUN!