Limited Color Palette - a video about painting a face

I came across this video on you-tube and loved how the artist shaded the face - 

I learned a lot about showing depth and highlights on a face, even tho' that was not the focus of the video - 

I thought you might enjoy it as well...

3 Praying Girls...In The Studio Friday

Some of what I've been working on this week...a series on praying girls...

Actually, "Guard Your Heart" is an older piece, and I have another piece - "She Gathered Hope" that was a companion.  I always intended to do a third - "Where Does My Help Come From" - and I am working on it (it will be the middle).  I am doing a reproduction of "She Gathered Hope" as the original sold and my photos for prints just aren't turning out the way I wanted...so I will finish the series AND get good photos before the originals are sold!

Joining over at "In the Studio" and "Paint Party Friday"...

Sneak Peek Friday - New Art - Faith has a sister named...

Another watercolor {mostly}/mixed media piece I have worked on this week - it sort of goes with this face {to the right}...
it will be available in the shop today ♥.

I will make a third - so there will bef a nice series...any ideas on theme for the third?


Joining with Jennifer and other creatives at Sneak Peek:

"& sing" - Sneak Peek Friday

We were in church one Sunday morning when I began to see this face in my mind.  We were singing a praise song with this line: “awake my soul and sing”…and the rest just flowed.  I sketched it in the notebook I had brought to take notes in, and knew this would be the first watercolor face I would do…trying out the watercolor sketching techniques Jennifer O. and Junelle have been doing recently (both "Sneak Peek" friends in blogland)!

Joining with Jennifer and other creatives at Studio JRU for Sneak Peek Friday...

Sneak Peek Friday - Guard your heart

It's time for another "Sneak Peek Friday" over at JRU Studios. This week I am showing something I made over the Christmas break, and I decided to offer for the One World One Heart Event. I used an outline of another piece I made last year because I really liked the look. I think I will make one more with a theme of prayer, since it looks like the girl is on her knees...what do you think? By the way, if you would like to enter the One World One Heart giveaway, just click HERE and leave a comment...you don't have to be a participant in the event to win, but just have a blog. : ).

Finally, to see all the other great "Sneak Peeks",

please click the icon below and visit Studio JRU!

One month ago....

I last posted! It has been full, getting ready for a holiday show...which was great, thanks to Misty and Katie! I made great connections with Beckie and another friend, Karen who introduced me into the wonderful world of "Thirty-One". I definitely will get a skirt purse in the future!

I also thought I might post a photo of one of the canvases I took to the show - I didn't really want to sell it quite yet - just wasn't quite ready to let her go (but you can buy her now)...I must say it has been interesting - being stretched and molded in a new way, interweaving faith and favorite scriptures with mixed media...this saint is done with acrylics, watercolors, and paper on a 12 x 16 canvas with the sides painted black and ready to hang...

She is signed and dated on the back, and the scripture reference is listed on the back as well...(the words are from Colossians 3 "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth").

Since the show last weekend, I have been trying to keep a little girl motivated to do school work with Christmas festivities sprinkled through the days! And catching up on reading my favorite blogs (several great posts to link to!) and allowing God to speak to my heart about the coming year...I am eager for the new He is bringing!

Hope there are Christmas melodies filling the air wherever you are!

Sneak Peek Friday - Daughter of Virtue


(Click the button to see more studios from around the web!)Here is what I have been working on this week:

I've been re-working some of the art I did during the first class I took after listening to the call back into creativity...I had found Paulette Insall, an inspiring Christian artist, on etsy and enrolled in her "Faces" class. Recently, I noticed that some of my first paintings seemed a little stark - I have grown in the area of experimenting with and developing layers and so am bringing changes into some of the early work...

Here is an image of what this piece looked like "before". I changed the name from "Young in Mind" to "Daughter of Virtue". There will be a companion piece, too:

and the sketch I worked from...

For future reference...artistic prompts and adding textures

Great creativity prompts!
And MORE "adding texture" ideas!

This is a sketch from a photo of my little girl...I changed out her curls for straight hair - I love the look on her face, and I know I want to turn this into a piece of art of some kind!

Sharon's Morning Art

I am always intrigued by artists who can use color in non-traditional ways...I love the shading effects this brings...so I have captured this video by Sharon Tomlinson (an artist I like to follow)so I can reference it later...

Hope you enjoy it too!

Morning ART April 26 from Sharon Tomlinson on Vimeo.

Sketchbook Project (My Life in a Yellow Submarine) - 6

This is just a closeup of the face for the last page of my sketchbook project...


The words in this submarine interior read:

Our spirit longs to be one with the Creator – the source of all life and love, so that life and love can flow in us and through us...





I have found Him by whom all things were created; both things in heaven and things on earth; visible and invisible things. All things have been created through Him and for Him. And since I have received Him, He has given me power...

He has poured love into my heart , so that I can love and receive love...


I really like the look of expectant joy in her face - I am looking forward to re-creating her on canvas!

And this is the end of my sketchbook submission! Hope it was enjoyable for you - it was great to experiment and document my thoughts on a spiritual journey!

Sketchbook Project (My Life in a Yellow Submarine) - 5

The words on this submarine page read Connecting with our own human spirit will ultimately lead us into a relationship with the wisdom of the Universe…



This "Face of Wisdom" is my first attempt at and African-American face. I am pleased with how she turned out - tho' I might have worked more on layers and shading if it were on a canvas. I know I kept telling myself, to keep moving to meet the deadline, that "this is just a sketchbook; it doesn't have to be perfect"! Her words are excerpts from Proverbs 8:

Does not wisdom call, and understanding lift up her voice?

At the entrance of the doors she cries out – “Listen, for I will speak of noble things. Take my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than purest gold. “ For wisdom is better than jewels. All desirable things cannot compare with her.

I love those who love me, and those who diligently seek me will find me.



From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest time of the earth.

Now, therefore people, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it, for he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.

Sketchbook Project (My Life in a Yellow Submarine) - 4

It is a journey beyond facades , masks, expectations – to a place deep within that is stripped of all but strengths, weaknesses, wounds, desires…



I lift up my eyes; from where does my help come?
When I pass through the waters, He is with me; and through the rivers He will not let me be submerged; and when I walk through the fire, He will keep me from being scorched or burned. He is gentle and will not crush my bruised places or extinguish my dimly burning spirit…

Sketchbook Project (My Life in a Yellow Submarine) - 3

The words read: Connecting with your spiritual nature requires risk and vulnerability and honesty.

Since that is sometimes a scary step to achieve, the words I chose to go with the face to express this idea say: I will be strong and courageous, I will not tremble or be dismayed, for the One Who created me is with me and is drawing me forward.




The pages were a little bubbly from using gel medium to glue several together to give the pages enough body to carry the paint...and the pictures seem a little yellow tinted - maybe that was meant to be!?

Enjoy!

Sketchbook Project (My Life in a Yellow Submarine) - 1

Here is the text...
Ringo, John, Paul and George may not have intended their little song about a yellow submarine to be deeply spiritual (or even a tiny bit spiritual!), BUT, the art therapy theory I am trained in links the color of yellow to our human spirit and the attributes that our spirit man bring to our experience…so I took liberty with the song and defined it as a metaphor for our spiritual journey – a very loose metaphor!!! In this journey we must dive beneath the surface of our daily life to find what is profoundly at the core of who we are as individuals. This journey requires that we move past the superficial, that we move through denial, in order to find our true identity.

I have juxtaposed my imagination’s rendition of the interior of the submarine using childlike simplicity between the exploration of the spirit I have been through using images of women in fields of blues…no matter what your spiritual persuasion, let’s walk a spirit journey together. Come and…




Open your heart, your mind, even your spirit…to new possibilities – to New Life!



The words read...
We are a tri-partate being, comprised of our body (the 5 senses), our soul (which is our thoughts, will, and emotion) and our spirit (which is conscience, communion, and intelligience).
Our spirit experiences the world through the 5 senses, and the resulting beliefs, decisions, and feelings are what comprise our soul.

Genius Defined!

Another one with a vintage novel page from 1891 and mounted on mahogany. The text of the page has some adjectives that define what is NOT a genius, but in the story, the one this is written about achieves all that he had hoped to...

You know, I think I already posted this, but I can't find it! Who knows! I don't know if it is the anesthesia left in my system or the fact that I am 50 - or maybe it is simply trying to prepare for this upcoming art thing!

heARTfilled blessings,
Cindy

Joy is...love smiling

I am finally back in my messy home office/art studio and creating! Although, I still need a pillow to sit on, but a small price to pay to get to so many unfinished projects! So many backgrounds and half-completed faces...I will feel like I am whizzing through to some of these finished paintings!

Anyway, here is the next (and almost last) installment to the "Fruit of the Spirit" series I started in the spring! Yippee!

Hey, I just figured out that you can click on the image and it will enlarge in the same window that you are viewing the blog in! I am getting so computer literate!!!