This was the first drawing that I did that was exhibited in an invitation only exhibit. I thought I would re-post since I have started getting back to my artistic roots of portraiture and figure drawing.

Well, I finished my second painting and did end up putting red hair on her. Not sure how I feel about her not having bangs but I guess it is okay.



I used pastels, colored pencils, caran d'ache, Golden paints (both heavy body and fluid acrylics), and a white gel pen to create this image. I love the way the background shows through her hair. I need to finish her top and do something more with the background.

I decided to experiment on a canvas board using different media. I transferred a sketch of a face that I made onto an already painted background. For the skin tone I used a layer of titan buff fluid acrylics, after that was dry, I applied a layer of Golden's Acrylic Ground for Pastels. My next step was to use pastels but I picked up the wrong box (non-smear) and, as expected, they didn't blend very well. I then moved over to Prismacolor Colored Pencils and did the rest of the shading and highlighting. For the very bright highlights, I used a white gel pen.

My next step is to add her hair. I think I am going to make her a redhead after which I will finish off the background. Check back to see how I finish her.

This is the next step in the painting process. I added in more depth by adding a bit of blush on her cheeks, neck, and forehead. I added a touch of highlights to her lips and shadowed the darker areas. i still need to finish off the background and then I think it will be done.

I have not been working much on this portrait the last few days as my son is sick. Anyway, check back soon to see how the whole painting turns out.

Okay, here is yet another part of the class. I have painted in the hair but no eyebrows yet. I wanted to do the detailing of the eyes and then paint in the eyebrows. I have detailed the face using Caran d'ache watercolor crayons and water soluble pastels. Here is the image which is still a way from finishing.



Here is a close up of the face.



I still have more detail work to do but here is my WIP as it stands now.

I have transferred the image to a piece of canvas board. I used canvas board because they are relatively inexpensive and if I make a mistake it will be no loss. Anyway, I didn't have any wax-free graphite transfer paper so I used a trick I learned in my art class. I keep the images I am going to use in my sketchbook. I pick an image and then photocopy it. After photocopying, I use an 8B or 4B pencil and color over all the lines on the back of the photocopy (you have to use a light box to see the lines). Once the "scribbling" is done, I place the image on the canvas (scribbling side down) where I would like it. With the image face up, I start outlining the image either using a pencil or a round embossing tool. I usually use a 2B pencil. A word of caution, if you lean on the photocopy image, it may transfer the areas where you were leaning to the canvas. Here is the image copied to the canvas with the face, mouth, and eyes painted in. The eyes are pretty much finished but there is still some detail work to be done on the face.

Here are a couple of backgrounds I painted for this class. I was experimenting with colors. Of course, there will be much more to add when the face is done.





The top image was painted using a titanium white (golden paints) mixed with an adirondack reinker (pink sherbert) with acrylic glazing liquid (golden paints) added in. I painted the outer edges with a touch of Paynes Grey (golden paints) mixed with acrylic glazing liquid. I then softened the edges by using a damp paper towel and feathering the colors out. I then used sequin waste to create the texture using Metallic Olive Green (Lumiere). I tamped a paper towel over the wet met olive green, sprayed it with water and then touched other parts of the color around the canvas.

The other canvas was painted using a mix of titanium white, quinacridone nickel azo gold, and acrylic glazing liquid (all golden products). I then smooshed some cobalt blue onto the background and wiped off with damp paper towel. I then painted some of the quin nickel azo gold onto a handmade stamp and stamped around the canvas. After that I used titanium white painted on another stamp and stamped again over the canvas. I added some texture by adding circular images which were rubbed with a damp paper towel. Finally using Payne's grey I added more texture by patting paint through sequin waste onto the canvas.

This is the class I have been taking with Paulette Insall. Here are some of the sketches I have made of eyes, noses, and mouths.



Here is an entire face with hair. My other faces have no hair because I would like to vary the styles as needed.

I am taking Paulette Insall's All About Faces class which is a lot of fun. I have been spending my time drawing faces, noses, mouths, and eyes. Drawing them individually hasn't been a problem but putting them all together has been. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my art. I would post some images but they are all bald right now :).

I have been woefully remise in updating my blog because I am working diligently on changing my website which is a job in itself. Anyway, I'll be posting some things soon so do drop by again and check out the new look of my website: www.artsychix.com.

Thanks for dropping by!

I have been working on my website and finally have a site I am beginning to like. Although I have changed the art on the homepage, the links are in the old style. My website address is: www.artsychix.com and I would love to hear any comments anyone has. Thanks.

Here is another digital collage I did using only the photoshop brushes from Annika von Holdt of The Fifth Muse. She makes beautiful brushes which I really enjoy using.

I changed the name of this digital collage after I highlighted the Mona Lisa's eyes with a flourish mask by endlessdeep. She also has a link to a tutorial on how he makes his masks. Endlessdeep(she) includes the image packs in her downloads so that you can make your own masks.

This is the final product for the da Vinci digital collage I started previously.



I made some significant changes to the inital collage but like the end result. I love the photoshop brushes from Yasny-Chan (the swirls and flowers).

I accidentally left out the handpainted layer when I saved this version of fairy dust. This is why I like digital collage, you can alter an image without having to paint another canvas. You can see the techno bursts in the upper right hand and left hand corners of the collage.

I have to say that doing these digital collages has become something of an addiction. The two fairy images were the inspiration for this new collage. The collage is made up of approximately 19 layers consisting of: a handpainted background, images, and a variety of photoshop brushes.



The initial background layer was a solid sheet of black. I followed this layer with a handpainted background I did on a stretched canvas. I usually photograph or scan in my backgrounds so that I can reuse them. This is the painted background that I started with.




The next 7 layers were made up of different photoshop brushes ranging from nature (plants) to techno (bursts). The full body fairy was the next layer followed by another layer consisting of photoshop brushes. The next layer was an ellipse I drew and filled with color onto which I applied another layer consisting of the upper torso of another fairy. The colored ellipse highlights the face of this fairy. After the fairy torso, was another 5 layers of photoshop brushes. The final layer was the text which I toned down by using a light grey.

I switched between black and white for the various brushes I used and I altered the opacity of some of the layers which ranged from 55% to 100%. I try to use "free for commercial use" photoshop brushes in the event that I would like to sell these pieces. Finally getting the layers the way I liked them, I flattened the image and saved it as a jpeg.

This is a digital collage I created using images from the artwork of Leonardo da Vinci. The swirls and grunge touches were added using photoshop brushes. The texture/grunge touches I used were from sanami276 and the swirls/flowers were from Yasny-Chan.



The background was an old world map onto which I applied a copper patina layer. With the cooper patina layer, I used a cookie cutter to create the irregular shape.

As a side note, I download my photoshop brushes from a variety of sites. I pay particular attention to the "Terms of Use" of all the brushes I download. If there is no "terms of use", I don't use any of the brushes on my commercial projects as I prefer to err on the side of caution.

I created this collage using an image from a painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti who is one of my favorite pre-Raphaelites. I haven't seen a painting by the pre-Raphaelites that I haven't liked and especially enjoy the Sleeping Beauty paintings. I titled this piece Serenity because of the expression on Elizabeth Siddal's face (she was Rossetti's wife). This particular image is entitled Prosperine or in Greek mythology Persephone. The myth of Persephone is one of my favorite mythological stories.

This image is my newest digital collage creation. I have used the theme of Carnevale with its mask as my theme. I started out with a white background as the "background" layer. The next layer is an image of a painted background that I did on watercolor paper using a variety of acrylic paints. I followed this layer with a book page layer, then two mask layers, and finally a layer of the doge's palace in Venice. I added some photoshop brush images (those fabulous swirls). And last but not least, I used a different opacity for each layer giving it the depth that the image required. The painted layer that I used is:



It is always interesting to me to see how these images start out and where they go from the initial idea. As I have said many times before, I let the art lead me to the final product. This is the inital idea I started with:

I took two classes with Margo Field on August 6 through August 9 at the Creative Castle in Newbury Park, California. I was intent on working on my project when I returned home but while I was up there I spilled several vials of beads and have been sorting them out. It has been quite the job (especially since some of the beads are size 15) but quite addictive. I just want it done. I hate those little plastic vials (the lids keep popping off) so I am transferring all my beads to those resealable poly-bags. So far I have filled 80 bags and I still have 100 bags more to go. I will take some pictures to post of the projects as they stand right now.

Here is an ATC I did using Photoshop Elements 6.0. It is my tribute to Edgar Degas whose ballerina paintings I love.



For this collage, I used white for the background layer. The next layer I used was a background that I had painted using Golden Paints. I used sequin waste to give the painted background some texture. Here is how the hand painted canvas looked before altering it.



Once the layer was added, I changed to opacity to 70% so that the background layer of white would come through and lighten this layer. I then added various images such as a sheet of music, two images of ballerinas, a self-portrait of degas, and I used some photoshop brushes for the folliage.

This is the second digital challenge issued by Cindy from our Yahoo group. The challenge this time deals with layers. We have to create an ATC with at least 12 layers (which I did). This is what I started with:



After creating an image with 12 layers (I eliminated a couple), I ended up with the following finished project:



I called this piece My Favorite Things because this particular collage contains elements that I love: da Vinci's Vetruvian Man, an image from the Pre-Raphaelites, swirls, architecture, a mask (of course), lace, flowers, and leaves. The background was painted by me and textured with gel medium and ephemera. I do kind of like how this turned out even though these are not the usual colors I work in.

I changed the look of my blog today. The design is just so me....chaotic. Hope you like.

I created this background using a stamped pair on watercolor paper. Well, at least it isn't a mask :).

Well, I seem to be stuck on the theme of Venice and masks. I wonder what Freud would say about that.



The background is a piece I painted on 140-lb watercolor paper using Golden Fluid Acrylic paints putting on with a brush and then blending using a baby wipe. I also used alcohol wipes sparingly to lighten up the areas of color.

After Cynthia's workshop, I have become addicted to doing backgrounds. This is another one that I did using a painted canvas. The yellow background was created using Golden Paints on canvas board. I brushed some watered down fluid acrylic paints on the background and allowed them to dry a little. I then sprayed the canvas with a bit of water and wiped some of it off with a rag. I then stamped writing on the background using Espresso Adirondack dye pads. After all of this dried, I used gel medium to apply the little bits of ephemera, dabbed very lightly areas of Cobalt Teal Golden acrylic paints (you can use your rag to wipe it off a bit). Lastly, using sequin waste, I dabbed some watered down gesso over the sequin waste which created the little circles of white.




As a rule I always take pictures or scan in my backgrounds for further use. Because I could not scan this background in, I photographed it. Using photoshop I add various elements to create the final background.

Well, we had an earthquake today at 7:34am which woke me up from my sound sleep (I thought it was all a dream). It turned out to be 4.0 on the richter scale and the epicenter was off the coast of La Jolla. According to what I have read, the most interesting thing to come from this earthquake were all the giant squid that washed ashore. Oh well, the pressure is building up at the San Andreas fault so I guess that the "big one" is coming.

I have been doing a digital workshop with Cynthia Powell from The Latest Trends in Mixed Media yahoo group. We have worked through 4 tutorials at this point and on the last one she challenged us to come up with a digital ATC. We had to use the techniques learned in the tutorials PLUS use one we hadn't learned from the tutorial. So here are some of the things I did. For the first layer (the background) I used a solid color of white. I tried black, blue, magenta, purple, etc. and found that the white background highlighted the layers the best. For the next layer, I used a piece that I had created in a class with Karen O'Brien.

The next three layers were 3 different masks which I tried to find with colors that went with the background I was using. I then used a sheet of music for the next layer. I varied the opacity with each of these last 4 layers.

The 7th layer was the image of the masked lady. This I had to extract from the original image. After placing her on the O'Brien background I decided I needed to add touches of color from the background on her dress. To do this I had to use the adjust color option under the Enhance menu. From there I chose replace color and then highlighted her dress with varying shades of green, blue, and magenta.

The last layer was the text iteself. Originally the text was in white but it was just too stark so I "greyed" it down. After moving the text box around, I placed it where it is presently.

Whew, after saving all of this I saved in the Photoshop Elements 6 format (.psd) and resaved as a jpeg file for posting on the web. This is the finished product.



I would like to send a special thanks to Cynthia Powell for her most excellent tutorials on using PSE 6.0. If you have any questions or comments, please post in the comment section below.

It has been a while since I posted but I have been working diligently on several projects: history of costume/fashion slideshow, a piece for a magazine, two workshops, and whatever happens to strike my fancy. What I am posting today is the digital collage challenge for one of the Yahoo groups I belong to. The image on the left was the piece that inspired my digital collage. I fell in love with this photo when I found it on the web. I am fascinated by the Carnevale in Venice, Italy from both a modern and historical perspective. Some of my favorite artists (Longhi, Guardi, de Gobbis) painted scenes of Venice (18th centory) during Carnevale in ridotti (state run gambling houses), convent parlours, etc., wherever the patrician class gathered. The piece on the right is the digital collage inspired by the woman sitting on a harlequin type floor. I had a great deal of fun creating it and do like the way it turned out.

I realized as I was paging through my images that I didn't supply instructions on what I did to get some of the artwork. I will be going back to re-post the images with instructions on how I did them.

This instructions for this mixed media pin are in the book Jewelry Beyond Time.

I have a piece of mixed media jewelry being published in Jewelry Beyond Time which will be available for purchase in Summer 2009. This is the second book published by Cynthia Powell, Stephanie Chavez, and Sherre Hulbert featuring projects from easy to complex. For more details about when the book will be available and where you can buy it from, please visit: http://thelatesttrendsinmixedmediaart.com/.

I am going to be trying out making some fabric paper today. I am gathering my supplies and will post pictures and instructions as soon as I have something to show :).

These are images of a before and after of a painting. The first rather plain image with the green splotches on it was done by applying purple craft paint mixed with gesso to 140lb watercolor paper. An old credit card was used to move around the paint. Pieces of ephemera were applied using gel medium to the painted background. Green paint was blotted over the ephemera which was put aside to dry. I then applied a light layer of gesso over the dried painting to mute the colors a little more. I applied glazes of Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, Transparent Red Iron Oxide, cobalt blue, payne's gray, and quinacridone magenta to the dried painting.

If you are wondering why I have so many backgrounds, I always either scan them in or take snapshots which I then alter and use in other art projects. Here are some more backgrounds that I made. All of these were done on canvas using both Golden, Liquitex, and Sherrill's sorbet paints.

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I am really hung up on doing backgrounds. This particular background is being done on a canvas board. I started out by applying a layer of molding paste. After letting this dry overnight, I applied two layers of gesso over the molding paste. After this dried, I then applied a wash of yellow ochre. I added some texture at this point using a sea sponge with Quin Nickel Azo Gold. Once dried, I added a couple of ephemera using gel medium. I then washed the whole canvase using Quin Nickel Azo Gold. I added touches of Cobalt Teal with a baby wipe (my newest favorite tool) and applied some Burnt Umber around the edges of the canvase using a paintbrush. I stamped a word image using a Adirondack stamp pad (Expresso, I think). I applied some texture by using Titan Buff through sequin waste. I am partially done with this canvas so check back again to see where I go from here.

These are canvases I painted today although the photographs aren't that great....the sun was going down when I took the pictures so I waited too long. I will take new pictures tomorrow.

Background 1 (the bottom image) was done using Golden's Yellow Ochre and Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold with a paintbrush. I am not done layering yet so the next layer I will most likely be a cool color such as blue.

Background 2 was done on a canvas board which I had gessoed first. I then applied a glaze of yellow ochre (Golden) and then spot colored using Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold. Then I added with a baby wipe touches of Turquois (Phthalo) and Quinacridone Magenta. I added darker touches of color with a paintbrush which I then patted with a baby wipe. I save all of these baby wipes as they can be incorporated into other artwork.

Background 3 (top image) was done on a stretched canvas. I had used this canvas before but did not like the way it turned out. The texture was achieved with molding paste on which I used dry wall tape. I had also applied some vellum using gel medium which immediately buckled giving another great texture. Before painting, I applied two layers of white gesso. Once the gesso dried, I applied a mix of acrylic glazing liquid and Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide as the base of the painting which I then highlighted with Quin Nickel Azo Gold. I then used a baby wipe to add touches of Cobalt Teal and Dioxazine Purple all over the canvases.

The final assignment in the first semester of my art class was to take a master and re-create one of his pieces of art. I chose Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel for my inspiration. I chose this for two reasons: 1) because I love the artist's work (for me it is all about the emotion), and 2) I usually draw female figures and decided to do a male image for a change. I used the grid method for this piece and we could only use dry media such as colored pencils, pastels, etc. for the final project. It took about 4 weeks to finish and even at that I was close to not finishing when the final exam rolled around. My art teacher, Diane, would have a mini-exhibition for our final where we would present our piece and then give a report about the artist and the piece at the same time. Our families were invited to the exhibition and the food and drink (non-alcoholic) made the evening all the more enjoyable.

This piece was invited to be part of an exhibition at the Boehm Gallery at Palomar College. The piece is called "Camera Shy" and was done completely in white charcoal on Mi-Tientes paper. This piece was done using the grid method. We had to take a small picture and make it at least 25% larger.

This was a piece I did a while back from a bust that was in our art classroom. I used a regular graphite pencil to do this piece which was a study of light and dark. It took me a couple of hours to do this freehand and without the use of a grid. I didn't use the "thumb" method either. My art teacher told me I have a really good eye.

We did this piece from a black and white photo picking out the colors of the pastels we wanted to use as our shadows. We had to group these items in a way that pleased us and then draw them without using a grid but keeping them in proportion. This was a challenging project.

In the second semester of the art class, we started using both white and black charcoal. It was a little more difficult to use since we weren't allowed to mix them. This was a study in perspective which was an excellent lesson for me since I had been away from the art world for so long. I also have to give credit to my art teacher Diane. She was great and I always recommend her.

Much like the bleeding hearts, this was a project done over a period of a couple of weeks which we were to draw without using a grid. I used my thumb and a pencil to keep the proportions correct. We used white and black charcoal on Mi-Tientes paper.