"The face is a picture of the mind with the eyes as its interpreter."
Marcus Tilius Cicero
I have always loved drawing faces. When I look at my portfolio from high school, (yes, I saved them. They must be true antiques by now...lol.) it is filled with faces drawn in pencil, ink, charcoal, pastel or watercolor. I tried all the different mediums, except for oil. I never could wrap my head around painting with oils or the yucky smell of turpentine...so no oils will find their way into this journal except for the occasional oil stick which is mostly wax.
With this journal, I hope to explore new techniques and perhaps find my identity. Will I prefer watercolor as opposed to acrylic? Will I prefer drawing whimsical faces as opposed to realism? Will I find my unique style or will I continue to follow the path of diversity? Wherever this journey takes me, I will go with eyes wide open...accepting my successes as well as failures and learning not to be too hard on myself when things don't go according to my liking.
BOHEMIAN GIRL
When I painted this girl in watercolor, I realized that I forgot how to paint skin tones. I am sure that there is something on the internet that explains this but a friend of mine just happened to be at my house with her inexpensive set of watercolors which had a tube of paint named, of all things, "Flesh."
Wooo hoo! You can't find this color in artist grade watercolor so I am very grateful that she offered to share.
INSPIRATION PHOTO:
This is the inspiration photo that I used for my painting. I plan to tape them to the opposite page of my journal to remind me of my thought process and to see what I should have done differently or what I might try again.
BONNET GIRL
This face started as a pencil drawing, then I added s little collage to the bonnet, stenciled a few flowers and texture using gesso and lastly, it was tinted using Ranger Distress Inks.
INSPIRATION PHOTO:
GOAT BOY
"Goat Boy" was done using a technique that I learned in Kate Thompson's "Children Of The Wild" class. It was drawn in pencil, painted and stenciled with gesso on a copy of antique ledger paper and then highlighted using a R&F oil stick.
If you are interested in learning this technique from Kate, her on-line class is still available on jeanneoliver.com. I have taken classes from Danielle Donaldson, Wendy Brightbill, Kate Thompson, Jeanne Oliver and many other fine artists. Also, this site has many free videos so you may want to sign up to receive their notices even if you are not ready to join a class.
THE THINKER
This guy started out as a pencil drawing then I shaded areas with a light wash using a Stabilo Aquarellable pencil. I used a black Faber Castell Pitt big brush pen for the background. These are two of my favorite tools for shading. The Stabilo pencil is nice and juicy allowing for a very light wash to a solid black line and the big brush pen is perfect for solid black areas as it does not bleed through the watercolor paper. It is filled with India ink unlike alcohol ink pens.
INSPIRATION PHOTO:
Well, I hope that you are enjoying the start of my new journal, "Faces." I am really inspired by all the photos that I have collected and can't wait to see how they reveal themselves on the page.
Until next time.....
Hugs,
Ginny
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