I was "Jack'd"!!!

Sunday was my birthday. As a gift, I asked for a three day landscape painting workshop by a well established artist, Jack Pardue (www.parduestudio.com). He and I met last summer at a Plein Air competition where he proceeded to tell me everything I was doing wrong LOL!!!  (I had NEVER done anything even remotely close to plein air before). Our paths crossed several months later, at another exhibit/sale, where I showed him my vast improvements (in Plein Air). He liked what I had done and also apologized for giving me such a hard time when we first met. As I always like a good challenge, I jumped on the opportunity to learn from Jack.   If you've been following this artistic journey of mine you may have noticed I often tend to gravitate toward VERY fine pens. Jack paints with a two inch wide paint brush and had me do the same, YIKES!!! Talk about "our of my box", that's a far step from my .005 pen nib, but when in Rome...here is the result of this weekend's adventure. I had a BLAST, learned TONS, and connected with some very SPECIAL people.  

(Please note that the third piece is 95% Jack's work.)

Happy Creating!!!

CARPÉ DIEM!!!

:D

#29Faces Days 6 & 7

Day 6 was a quick pencil sketch. As I typically draw very feminine faces I tried a more masculine one. No reference was used for this sketch. 

For today, day 6 of #29faces, I started by painting and playing with generic, neutral face shapes and features. I kept thinking about a vintage Victorian photo of a woman I recently saw which I found exquisite. That image was the inspiration for this face. 

They have all been pretty different so far, it will be interesting to see what face emerges next...Hope to see you tomorrow!

Happy Creating!!!

CARPÉ DIEM!!

:D

Christine

29 Faces Day 5 with thanks to Ade!!!

I was asked several days ago by a young woman on Instagram if I would draw her portrait. I was rather surprised she asked me as of all the thousands of artists on Instagram I seem to be the least likely to perform this task. Until day 3 of this challenge I have never really attempted to draw a "real" person so certainly none of my posted work would shout out "I'm a portrait artist". Since this challenge encourages stepping out of your box and experimenting with different styles, techniques, mediums, etc. it seemed rather serendipitous to be asked at this time. Today I attempted two portraits of this very cute young woman. In the first, she looks way older than the reference photo.

 I think I  captured her cuteness and youth much better in this second image.

These are not great, but not bad. Perhaps there's some potential here with more practice and guidance. Any input is always welcome and encouraged as I frolic through this artistic adventure. 

Happy Creating!!!

CARPÉ DIEM!!!

:D

Christine 

29 Faces Day 4 and THANK YOU Universe

Today's face went back to what comes naturally to me...intuitive doodling, no plan other than making a face. I call this         "Spiraling Out Of Control". 

And here's a shout out to "The Universe" which showered me with MANY gifts. How did it know I would need them so much today?!?? THANK YOU!!! :D

Happy Creating!!!

CARPÉ DIEM!!!

:D

Christine

29 Faces Day 3

Today's face inspiration for 29 Faces is the beautiful Instagram avatar of my friend, artist, world traveller...,Patricia Saint-Lannes. With permission, I attempted to recreate the simple yet gorgeous image of her. Alas, my skills are not yet up to that par but Patricia's image was a wonderful reference for me to work on given her lovely proportions. And work on it I did, on and off throughout the day. In addition to stepping outside of my box in trying to recreate the image of a real person I also stepped outside of my box by adding color using colored pencils. Believe me, Patricia is far prettier than this... but I present you with today's evolution of day 3 of 29 Faces...

"Thank You Patricia Saint-Lannes"