Art du Jour 88

Special request for my daughter who wanted a drawing of the late Layne Staley from Alice in Chains.  Hope I got that right.  I guess he was an Ozzy fan.

Art du Jour 87

This canvas sat on my easel for weeks, faceless lady in monster hat, making me sad and wanting to watch murder mysteries rather than finish what I started.  Then I chucked her in with a stack of other stuff I still don’t know what to do with, except to keep it all in a stack under my paint shelves.

Yesterday I decided to at least fill in her face, and the rest just flowed from there.  This no longer makes me sad and I don’t hate it.  Yay!  Mission accomplished.  I love the purple and the turquoise but I have no idea what that hat is supposed to be made of.  Let’s just chalk this one up to January boredom and blues, waiting for the sunshine.

Happy Sunday!

Art du Jour 75

Among the many reasons why I don’t like to draw the faces of men, these two are the biggest. Their ears are so visible and over all they are generally so incredibly hairy.

So,try to ignore the ears which I couldn’t be bothered finishing, and the inaccurate directions in which the stubble appears to be headed. Other than that, I am calling it okay. Not just another pretty face, and more challenging than anything on a Friday really needs to be.

Today the weather is cool with gusty winds and welcome rain. Perfect for staying inside and messing about with charcoal. I’ve lost track of how many coffees I’ve consumed.

I should tell you that this drawing was inspired by a photo of Hugh Laurie. Now you don’t have to wonder who it vaguely reminds you of any longer. This information might even give you something totally different to wonder about.

And on that note, in this world full of wonder, have a wonderful weekend!

Art du Jour 73

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a black and white charcoal face on brown paper, so I’m very happy with this result. Especially the hair. And the lopsided smile. And the fact that the eyes are not too big. I like doing eyes, so I tend to exaggerate them too much sometimes.

Practice, practice, practice. And then practice some more.

Originally I intended to incorporate this in to a collage, but I think she’s fine on her own.

And look at me, all organized and industrious and posting in the morning! It’s a beautiful one too, sunny and breezy and not yet hot. Perfect for whatever comes next.

Art du Jour 70

Could be an understatement to say this is mixed media, because I think I used everything within reach once I got going. It’s like cooking, where you start adding whatever strange thing is hanging around in the fridge or the cupboard to your concoction. Or perhaps that’s just me, and the reason why nothing ever turns out the same twice in a row.

In the beginning I was simply experimenting doing a face with gelatos. She was supposed to look sinister and mysterious and that stuff around her head was meant to be representative of hair. So much for that plan.  I don’t know what the hell it represents now.  These things just take on a life of their own. My muse has not so much a sense of the dramatic as a sense of humour.

We’ve had a couple of lovely cool cloudy rainy overcast days, but today the sun is back and the heat is on. Canada Day, with its celebrations and fireworks has come and gone for another year. And we’re off and running into July.

Make hay while the sun shines.

Art du Jour 65

There’s been a long convoluted detour away from my original intent to draw lots of faces, so I steered myself back in that direction today with this sketch.

The woman who plays Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis) has beautiful deep-set eyes, incredible cheekbones and a perfect heart-shaped face. All of that makes her Dutch boy bob look like a million bucks.  I wore my hair like this when I was six.  I did not look this good.  If you didn’t know that’s who this is supposed to be, that’s okay.  It’s still an interesting face and worth the big charcoal mess I’ve made.

Feels like I’ve been on vacation for a week with all this Netflix watching.   At least I’m feeling slightly less guilty about it now for having finished this.

And now I deserve another cup of coffee without any charcoal dust floating in it.  Hope you’re having a fantastic Friday!

Art du Jour 63

Surprise! It’s another collage. This time the background is bees and magazine people.  Although most of the bees are lost in the ink.  But I know they’re there.

I believe this piece has depth and balance with an over all burst of chaos.  Feel free to use that at your next art show or wine tasting event.

Other things that made me happy this weekend:

1.  Daughter, granddaughter, shopping.

2.  Free hemp hearts.

3.  Finding the book(s) they’ve been looking for.

4.  Potato salad.

5.  Sunshine.  Rain.  Thunder.

6.  Seeing my daughters two beautiful collages made up of ticket stubs and mementos and memorabilia from various adventures in her life.  What a brilliant idea.

7.  Stocking up on breakfast blend extra large Tassimo coffee so there is none left on the shelf for the next person, who will then have to make do with bold midnight eclipse instead.  I know how this all goes down.

8.  Watching a tuxedo cat on the neighbours fence being mercilessly harassed by two cheeky magpies.  He could have jumped down and gone home at any point but he puffed up his tail and stuck in the game; one magpie squawking in his face while the other snuck up in the rear, both alternately flying off if he got too close and swooping back down to claim their place on the fence when he’d turned around to face the other.  It was a dramatic dance, a battle of wills, a territorial spat of epic proportions.  Or something to do on a fence for fun on a sunny afternoon.  A nature show with no voice-over commentary, so I just don’t know.

9.  Saying goodbye to another May.

10.  Finding a seasonal allergy med that works very well, so that all that green stuff floating around in the air and drifting through my window screens is merely an annoyance to dust, and not turning me in to a sneezing weeping mess. Because no one likes a sneezing weeping mess.

Okay, no animal documentaries going on in my backyard at the moment so I will turn my attention to catching up on blog reading.

Happy first day of June, and have a memorable Monday.

Art du Jour 61

What started out as a serious exploration of watercolour blending quickly turned silly. The left hand side you see here was originally the top, until I held the paper up to let gravity work its magic on the paint flow and this funny sad face appeared. And I found myself enhancing it with a few details.

So if you stand back, it’s just splashes of lovely bright colours. Up close it becomes something which might frighten a small child.

In the many artistic endeavours I’ve come across in the blog world there are some things I really like and some I don’t, and some that don’t particularly move me one way or the other although I can always appreciate the creative process.  Art is a very subjective thing.  And artists are sometimes their own worst critics and very hard on themselves.  Writers are like this too, humbled by what they feel is better work than their own, when it might simply be different – not more or less, not better or worse.

A little humility is a good thing, and working to be better is admirable.  But we should also strive for self-confidence and feeling good about who we are and what we do.  Drawing the line at turning into raving egotistical nut jobs of course.  It’s a fine balance.

All that was a long convoluted way to get to the part where I say positive things about my art. Even when it’s not likely to end up in the Louvre.  Yes, I did just roll my eyes.

I absolutely love these colours, and the hinted at flowers and the splatters of ink.  I love that I’ve learned how too much blending turns into a muddy brown and how I will learn to avoid that in the future.  And I love that I can see faces where they weren’t necessarily meant to be.

Happy Thursday!  I love that I always appear to know what day of the week it is too.  Yay me.

Art du Jour 46

I’ve been missing my charcoal.  This doesn’t look much like my magazine picture model, but I’m sure she must look like somebody.  I started off on this project with the intention of drawing 365 faces.  Obviously I’ve gone off on a lot of tangents.  Now I’m just doing a count of art days and anything goes.

It was a lovely quiet Sunday here,  once W got back inside from a couple of hours of blowing snow all over the neighbourhood this morning.

I wish I was kidding. Third day of snowfall in a row.  But higher temperatures in the forecast so it will soon be gone.  I try to never complain about rain,  because at least it’s not snow.

Does this look like a young Jane Fonda to you?  It wasn’t supposed to.  What the hell.  I’ll just pretend I meant to do that.

Art du Jour 42

This is what happens when you change your mind sixteen times before, during, and after breakfast.  And a few more times after lunch.  Glad I don’t have to peel the layers off this one.  I watched a lot of YouTube mixed media instructional videos yesterday and apparently decided to try all of them out at once.

Hope you’re having a great Saturday!  And that this didn’t give you a migraine!  Next up – aiming for a focal point.