JANUARY CALENDAR 2013 PAGE

OK...Now I am ready to start the pages for the months of the calendar.  

Where do I begin?  I love the look of all the snow scenes that everyone is 

doing but that really doesn't fit since I live in FLORIDA!!!

 So I think that I will start with the color....I am still thinking snow

 so I will make it blue with a splash of green.  

That seems like a good mix of the two!  

Blue for snow and green for the lush tropical Florida.

I was somewhat afraid to use the inky sprays inside my handmade journal because I could just imagine them bleeding through the spine and onto other pages.  That would be a disaster!  Or maybe not...after you journal for a while you become pretty good at fixing your messes! Anyway, what I am worried for?  They make gesso don't they and that is a great coverup for wayward inks.  Anyway the thought of wayward ink stuck in my mind so I decided to play it safe and use the Faber Castell Gelatos!

I usually gesso the pages before I use the Gelatos because they sometimes grab the paper and are difficult to smooth out.  But being in a hurry...I am already three days late to this party and need to get my pages finished...I jump right in without first priming my page.   See the scribble on the page below?  That's where the crayon grabbed the paper but not to worry...It will be covered by the squares for the days of the month.

I wanted a contrasting border around the page to write my New Years Resolutions but since I had a foldout page that would be seen when you opened to the February calendar, the color needed to coordinate with February's page.  In addition, I envisioned a bouquet of heart shaped flowers for February and for the cut-out shape of the fold-out to follow the shape of the heart flowers.  I can see now that I need to give thought to more than one calendar month when there is a foldout involved. The shape and colors for both sides of the fold-out must be planned and coordinated together!

Anyway, I chose purple for the color of the border because it would transition nicely into the reds and purples that I plan for February.

For the calendar's finishing touches, I used Dylusions sprays for the date squares, Derwent Inktense pencils for the border on the fold-out page and various markers to finish off the lettering and journaling in the date squares.

The calendar project is a great way to journal everyday if you work and only have a few minutes in your day to be creative.  Once the page for the month is completed the journal entries can be done in the evening just before you retire for bed or if it works better for you...at the breakfast table the next morning.

Try it!  Your Calendar doesn't need to be anything elaborate.  It can be a store bought journal, an altered book, a school composition book or even an old calendar torn apart and repurposed with your own artistic flair added.  Be creative...use your imagination and make a calendar that works for you...one that will have MEANING in years to come!

Next up...Calendar page for February!!!

Hugs!
Ginny

REPEAT THE FOLLOWING S'IL VOUS PLAIT:

I am working in my altered book journal again and this time I decided to do a little collage work.  I have this beautiful hand stamped paper that I rarely use....only because inspiration doesn't hit me.... and I also have bits of ephemera and handmade Washi tape that looks gorgeous with the stamped paper.  Boy...that handmade faux Washi tape has really come in handy!  I seem to be using it in everything!!!  Many times it is just the right accent to add interest to a page.

This is how I made this page:    I scribbled and then rubbed Faber Castell Gelatos over the entire background.  Because the book paper is slick, they moved around with no problem,  No need to add water!!!  Then I started gluing the hand stamped paper and ephemera.  I did a little stenciling with the Gelatos, a chevron design, but covered up most of it with the final layers.

Now it is time to start doodling and adding Zentangle patterns with alcohol markers.  I used Prismacolor markers and fine line Sharpies because the vivid colors do so well on the book paper.  I also own Letraset Promarkers but the colors didn't do as well.  When I applied them the colors seemed a little washed out and they seemed to bleed a little.  I had to experiment with my pens to find the ones that worked the best.  Then I added lots of handmade Washi tape, the text blocks, and white pen accents.  There you have It.....

Just in case you can't tell which is the handmade Washi tape; the ticket and center of the tall flower is tape made from dinner napkins.  The green dotted flower center, the pink and red dotted tape,  the purple tape with squiggles, the blue tape with squiggles and the green and blue chevron design are  all faux Washi tape doodled using alcohol markers.   

Hmm......I wonder if you would get this hand drawn look if you used commercial Washi tape?   

PAINTING FACES

I just love drawing and painting faces.  If I can't think of anything to draw, I will rough out a face in pencil on plain paper and color it with Prismacolor pencils. Eventually, the colored pencil drawing will make its way into one of my journals.

Lately, I have been experimenting with using different mediums as well as creating different whimsical looking faces.  I tried drawing faces with cute short turned up noses and long faces with long noses... girls  with big eyes and some with squinty eyes..... tiny full lips and wide thin lips.   Can you tell that I looooove to draw faces?  It is so much fun to see the personality of each girl develop right in front of your very eyes and on a piece of paper!!  Very addictive!

My technique for colored pencil faces is pretty much the way everyone else does it.  First using a lightweight paper (I use a good quality inkjet printing paper but any smooth paper or card stock will work) I lightly sketch the face, hair and upper portion of the body and clothes and then ink it using a micron or pitt pen.  Next, I erase all the pencil lines.

To apply the colored pencil for the first layers, I use a medium pressure with small circular motions.  First, I apply the lightest color (light peach) to the face leaving any white or highlighted area.  Next, a slightly darker color (peach) is applied for contouring around the perimeter of the face, nose, eyes and lips.  For the final and darkest shading, I use the darkest color (burnt ochre) around the perimeter of the face, side and bottom of the nose (not as much as the previous layer).  

Now I am ready to blend it all.  Blending is done by using the lightest color or white and going over the entire face by using a more firm pressure than what was used on the first and previous layers.  Once again in a small circular motion. What begins to happen is the wax from the pencil begins to move around the paper and blend into the lightest color...... eliminating the grainy look of the pencil marks. I may need to repeat the contouring process if the contour is not dark enough but the idea is to build the layers slowly.

The cheeks are added by using a rose color in a circular motion with the darkest and firmest pressure in the center of the cheek and fading to a lighter pressure and color on the perimeter of the apples of the cheek.  Once again, I blend with the lightest skin color or white.  That's pretty much the short of it!!

Here is one of the girls colored with Prismacolor pencils.  The background was made by using Faber Castell Gelatos with a wash of water.  After it dried, I rubbed the gelato stick over a stencil.

I hope that this inspires you to try coloring faces using Prismacolor pencils.  It takes practice but I think that it is well worth it!  Hope that you do too!