Late night skart revisited

I was pretty disappointed in how this face came out, and relatively certain I couldn't make her any better. The eyes are a little wonky, and the lips are even wonkier. Still, she deserved a little color.

But then I added a little bit of pen to her - just along the upper eyelids - and a little bit of outlining with a black colored pencil, and I think she looks a million times better! I swear, it took about two minutes to make this previously ugly face into something...not so ugly.

Wishing on a star

I was drawing her and skarting with Kelly one night. I really wanted her to be looking up at the stars and it put this song in my head that the little boy on the back of the train sings on The Polar Express. Billy. He's one of the only characters who has a name on that movie!

Kelly said that thinking of wishing on a star makes her think of the Disney song. I pointed out how that particular song has stupid lyrics about how wishing on a star makes dreams come true. I said that the lyrics should be more like "If you want your dreams to come true you have to work your ass off to make that happen." I'm cynical - surprise!

These words seem so much more appropriate to me:

Honestly, I wish I was more of the wishing upon a star to make my dreams some true kind of a chick, but I'm just not. Maybe I'll get there?

Art Date

Just me, my frappuccino, and my journal. Oh, and Ivan (my iPad), of course!

I love her so much I'm keeping her exactly as she is! No more color, no more paint. Just black ink and white pages.

Late night skart

Nature vs. Goog

Just kidding, peeps! Nature and I are fine. Although, if you know me you know I'm not really a nature loving chick. Sorry, I'm just not. I like looking at the pretty leaves in the fall, and the occasional sunset/rise. But for the most part I stay inside and away from the weather and the bugs and whatever.

BUT Julie Balzer said to do this and so I did. Be Proud. I gathered leaves and a stick.

I only liked this one leaf, so I only used it!! I made a gelli print with it first, then I used it as a stamp! I totally fell in love with this color combo, too!

First Profile

I'm totally in the "front face" rut and I've been there for a while, so I signed up for Tam's summer faces class so I could learn how to make better 3/4 and profile portraits. OK, not BETTER profiles, since I've never done one, but you know what I mean.

I tried to be better about process pictures, so here she is just getting started. 

And face finished:

The eye is hard for me. I don't know if I like it or not. It's not horrible at the moment, but I'm sure I could get it to horrible if I really tried. Actually, probably with very little effort at all. 

Here's the full spread before color:

Color is usually the hard part for me, especially when we're talking about faces. But I freaking LOVE how this chickie came out! She makes me so happy I'm going to make her into a canvas!!

Penzu asks: “lf you were to think of your journal as a friend, whatunique qualities will this friend have?”

Suzi Blu taught me years ago that my journal is my friend. That it will always hold my secrets. That it doesn't care how often I tell it my fears. That it never gets mad at me if I kick it under the couch and forget about it for awhile. It has no expectations. It is always there when I need it. It doesn't even care if I spend some time with another journal.

These are the journals I'm using right now:

There are seven of them. Three I made myself. Two are identical but serve difference purposes. Some of them are task specific - cartoons only, cheap thoughts only, palettes - while others are just a catchall. There is no rhyme or reason to them and I don't try to force on. Some of them are almost full while others are barely touched. When I feel the need to journal, I usually have a specific one in mind and I don't question that, I just find it and use it.

PS I have another journal, a moleskine sketchbook, that didn't make the picture. So that's eight. Right here, right now, journals that I'm currently working in. My friends.