Seasonal Creative Projects, Part 2: I'm Still Learning

Yesterday I mentioned that there are several seasonal creative projects I participate in each year. I shared my returns from Kat's spring time Liberate Your Art Postcard swap and my plans for Kristin's Summer of Color. Another one of my favorite projects take place each fall - Learn Something New, hosted by Shimelle. It runs every September, and I've probably participated three times.  One year, I made a chipboard book using lots of rubber stamps. You can see a sample here.  Another year, I made a flag shaped mini-album with little teeny tiny pieces of ephemera.  You can see some of them here. Last September, I decided to create an art journal in which I record my lessons and practice drawing faces. I made a start at it, but didn't get very far on it. But lately, I've been working away on it.  I've done all the backgrounds and have even completed a couple of pages.

For the faces in the journal, I'm using techniques from a face-drawing class by Dina Wakley. They're very stylized and messy, but I'm enjoying learning the technique. Each page also includes the lesson learned on that day. I'm going to continue to work on the journal this summer.  Hopefully I'll get it done before the next round of LSNE starts!
Speaking of faces, I also participate in face-drawing creative projects hosted by Ayala Art.  Each June, she runs one featuring men (see mine here) and occasionally hosts one called 29 faces. Here's the post announcing the one for this year. I won't be participating this year, but I have been participating in her Faces in the World Swap, where groups of three people work in sequence to complete a finished face.  For example, I recently sent this out:

And this is what it became:

And when I received this recently:

I tuned her into this:

This is a really fun project. I just sent these to starters out for the next round:

I'll let you know how they turn out when they return home.

More Faces and Lessons

I'm participating in Shimelle's Learn Something New Everyday class, creating a journal with a daily lesson learned. I'm also using the journal as a way to practice drawing and painting faces.  My lesson for Sept. 5 was "Follow your muse, even if she doesn't follow your original plan." The lesson came about as I was creating this face.  I actually started with the following Richard Avedon photograph of Audrey Hepburn as my reference:

I started by drawing the constrained face in a circle, and she immediately made me think of images I have seen of women wearing head scarves. So, I went with that. And I really like what I created, which led me to my lesson!
I have on other lesson to share, which I'm posting even though I don't like the face much because I like they story that goes with it.

I painted this face back on September 2, and I can already see how much better my faces have become since then! Anyway, the lesson is "Don't judge too fast . . . people (and dogs) are not always the way the first appear." I learned the lesson while volunteering at the Humane Society.  Clara and I walked one of the new dogs, and he seemed perfectly nice, but nothing special. But when we took him into the play yard, he blossomed.  He loved to play fetch and run about. Then we tested him to see if he knew any commands.  When we said, "sit," he dropped, rolled over, and waited in down position! He did this over and over again! He had clearly been taught this trick, and it totally melted our hearts. Thus, my lesson for the day.
Have you learned anything new lately? Do either of these lessons resonate with you?

Faces and Lessons: Pairing Photos and AJ Pages

I'm making an art journal featuring faces for the Shimelle class Learn Something New Everyday.  For most lessons, I'm also taking an instagram photo.  Here's a couple of the pages from my journal and the accompanying instagram photo.  The lesson for Sept. 7 was "Sometimes you can accomplish something in just a few minutes." I parked in this limited time spot and still had plenty of time to get the photo of City Hall I needed for the Scavenger Hunt.

The lesson for Sept. 3  was "Don't be afraid to take a chance. Sometimes you get lucky!" The lesson was learned when I decided to try to grab lunch at my favorite burger spot between two meetings, even though I wasn't sure I would have enough time. I was lucky; there was a parking spot out front and no line! I really enjoyed my burger from 5 Guys (instagram of a bag of their potatoes).  

I don't always have a photo to pair with my art journal page, but I am finding that snapping photos throughout the day gives me a variety of lessons to choose from when I do sit down to make my journal page. It does feel a little bit like I'm doing the class twice, but it seems to work okay. Is anyone else doing instagram and something else?

PPF: Using a Reference to Draw and Paint (+LSNED)

I'm taking an online class from Dina Wakley on drawing and painting a particular style of face. One thing she recommends is drawing from a reference. I didn't follow that advice for my first few faces, but I did for the two faces I'm posting today.  On the whole, I like these better.  The face up top is based on this drawing by Fabio Mingarelli.

It really helped me get the shading right (or at least better) and gave me some idea about what to do about hair. I also created this art journal page:

I based it on this wonderful print from Ellen Heck's Forty Fridas collection. 

Although I find it really helpful with my drawing and painting (and I'm not planning to sell or display these beyond my blog), it still feels a little wrong to me somehow to "copy" someone else's art. Do you know what I mean? Does anyone else have similar qualms?
Posting these to Paint Party Friday and 29 Faces.  These are also pages in my Learn Something New Everyday art journal.  The lesson for the top page is "Using a reference photo really is a good idea." My lesson for the second drawing is "Don't be afraid to take a chance. Sometimes you get lucky!"  I'll blog more about those lessons this weekend.

September Art Plans: LSNE, 29 Faces and Facing the Facts Class

It's September, and I'm starting a new art project, which brings together several different online classes and memes. I'm making an art journal featuring faces and journaling about things I am learning each day in September.  The journal is for the Shimelle class "Learn Something New Everyday." I'm learning how to draw and paint a certain style of face from the Dina Wakley class "Facing the Facts." As an extra bit of serendipity, Ayala Art is hosting 29 Faces in September, so I'll be linking up there as well!
Although I'm making this art journal for LSNE, I'm also snapping pictures on instagram as I go through the day of things that might be the basis for the lesson I incorporate in my journal.  For September 1, I took this picture off my deck the first thing in the morning:

The lesson I jotted down was "A breath of fresh air is a great way to start the day." Although there were other possible contenders, I really liked the feel of this lesson to start September. If you want to follow my LSNE posts on instagram, my user name is rinda1961, and I'm using #lsned to flag the posts. Although I'm "private," on instagram, just ask and I'll approve our follow request.  I'll probably also feature my instagram photos here on my blog as well, when appropriate.
Are you doing Learn Something New Everyday? If so, what format are you using? Anyone else doing 29 faces? If so, let me know in the comments, and I'll follow you. Also, let me know if you're posting in instagram, and I'll add you to my feed.
Happy September everyone!