Intro: The start of a new month... and the start of a new challenge: 29 Faces! A challenge started by Ayala... it is held every February and September. The goal is to draw, illustrate, or paint 29 faces (yes that means those dreadful portraits) and have them completed by the end of the month. Some artists work on really detailed and time-consuming faces and thus cannot complete 29 faces in one month... but there are no set rules saying that you have to complete that many.
February 2017: So for the month of February 2017, I'll be working on portraits as well. I have had a similar project come up in the past that after not much activity ended up at a standstill. I am going to bring that back up once again to see if I can get two birds with one stone. I have a list of friends who have already signed up (eons ago) to have their portraits done by me..and the invitation is still open to everyone. If I do not get to your portrait this month then I'll get to it in September...so do let me know if you want to help me by being a model. You can send me an image to work with as that works out best... due to location differences it can be difficult to do live modeling but we can attempt it. You can read about it all on my dA journal. I'll be posting my works for this challenge on here once a week... you can keep tabs by selecting the #29faces category on this blog. My theme: There is already a theme set as it is about faces but I wanted to get more specific... I have previously done portraits in pencils...colored pencils and pens so this time I am going to focus on watercolor. I am going to put my Strathmore Visual Journal to use by filling it up with these 29 portraits. Who knows...if I feel inspired enough I might switch over to some acrylic portraits...maybe even oil paint (I have doubts about oil paint). I am going to stick to postcard sized canvas to try out portraits on a smaller scale. I do not think I am yet ready for ATC sized ones but perhaps when the challenge happens again in September I might be ready. References: for those needing references feel free to browse Paint My Photo. I am going to be referring to PMP when I run out of requests. There is also a whole thread focused on free-source reference photograph websites on ATCsForAll. Check that out if you need more references. Do share links to where you are going to be posting if you are participating in the challenge!
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Intro: I discovered an art challenge that happens every year over at ATCsforAll.com. It is the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge created by Leslie Saeta.
Details: I thought I was too late as it was already January 16th but a fellow artist convinced me to go for it still... maybe go for the 15-in-15-days marathon. There are no rules... you just create every day (but because there are no rules you can actually create every other day as well). Mostly it has been drawings, illustrations, and paintings but some artists have gone beyond to create 3D works and digital works as well. I had already started the year off by running into what now I classify as "small canvases" so a theme had started in a way. My official theme for this challenge is just that: exploring small canvases. I hope to discover new tricks in working with media that I already use by being restricted to the size of the canvas. This is a big deal for me as I tend to go for small details and thus require a bigger canvas to work on. I want to improve my skills enough so that I can create at least 60% of the same amount of details on a 2.5"x3.5" canvas that are on a 18"x24" canvas. With this... I am not limiting myself to just ATCs...I am going to work on inchies, twinchies, in-betweenchies (?)...and artist tiles. Social Status: I have started posting all of my work on DeviantArt now just so that I can have a protected gallery to refer to whenever needed. Protected because of the watermark that is available for any uploads to the website. Other than that... I thought about uploading my creations on Pinterest as well but that website is just too hectic for sharing art. I do try to share the posts that I create on here to Facebook and also on Twitter but there is no real purpose for those except for any followers and friends to know that I am alive still (lol). Final thoughts: I have already added reminders to my calendar for other challenges that I want to participate in... #29faces challenge in February and again in September. There is #inktober in October along with #drawlloweeen... but I am leaning more towards #inktober as I need to practice creating in ink. And yes I have already marked this #30-in-30-days challenge for next year on my calendar as I do want to go for a full month's of creations. I have also been thinking about creating some personal challenges that are spread out during different times of the year (not conflicting with these other challenges). Perhaps ATC related or just any small canvas related challenges... any thoughts or interests? Intro: I purchased a watercolor journal on a whim recently... and I am super excited about filling it up with some nice creativity! It is a bit too large (and heavy) to carry around every where I go with me but I do think I can dedicate some ideas to place in the journal every once in a while.. it'll fill up eventually over time.
What I got: I purchased this from a local art store (Allard's) and it is pretty nifty. I admit that I was more intrigued by the cover than anything else... It is not that grand compared to some overly priced journals that can be purchased online but for the price the journal is just amazing. It does have a hardcover front and back with some pattern... which adds a nice touch if you are feeling too lazy to create your own cover. The only reason I am interested in the hard cover is - it acts as a nice canvas for adding my own custom cover. Whether I create the cover in clay then attach after curing or whether I decide to just create the cover with mixed media directly on the journal - either way it has an advantage. The journal I purchased is a Strathmore Visual Journal 140LB Watercolor. Final thoughts: I have already started my first painting in the journal... a portrait which I'll be posting as soon as I am done with it. Intro: I think it is good to on a routine practice certain techniques especially in mediums that you use most often. So I am going to dedicate time to practicing with Watercolor as it my favorite medium to work with. I wanted to work on some exercises that are perhaps productive but mainly relaxing. The first exercise I focus on is texture... you'll see many posts in the future that cover this exercise in different medium. I'll move onto another one once I feel more confident about creating textures. What I created: So I used this as an excuse to get started on the ATCs that I have discuseed in a past post. I thought it would be a great exercise that is relaxing and productive at the same time. There are many things that could be created while working on an exercise such as booksmarks, gift tags, placeholder cards, greeting cards, etc. I find ATCs are the better ones to work with as they come in handy for personal use and can even be used as gifts. Bookmarks are great as well but too many readers are getting away from traditional books to digital books... so the audience is very limited. Using masking fluid in some of the ATCs as foundation I then used these three main texture techniques: 1. The first type of texture I made was using paper towels. There is a bit of variation in texture when you use clear wrap/cling wrap... I tried both just too see how much of a difference there is. 2. Another texture technique I used was done using table salt. This same idea can be completed using sea salt and rice grains to give bigger shapes to the pigment cluster. 3. The last texture type was created using rubbing alcohol. Final touhces were added to the textures once the bookmarks dried using markers and pens. For a cleaner edge you can create a borderline all around the edges using a marker or pen... or even get fancy and use embossing powder. You can purchase stickers online to place on the back of the cards.. or purchase stamps. I just wrote everything by hand using the same felt tip pen I used on the front of the card. I might look into investing in a stamp in the future or create my own as I do have the rubber canvas needed for creating your own stamp. Materials used: I purchased a Canson XL Foldover Watercolor Pad for doing some portraits but decided that I needed a spiral type journal for that. I have instead decided that I am going to use this watercolor pad for creating my ATCs and perhaps other things like tags, bookmarks, cards, etc. I kept the traditional ATC size of 2.5"x3.5" and had a variation in the numbers of cards I got depending on how I divided the page. One way produced only 6 cards...leaving a big chunk of paper at the top that I first thought could be used for bookmarks. Then later I decided to go ahead and divide the page out the opposite way and got 9 cards from the page with zero leftover space. Just enough space is left to allow clean edges to be cut. I used regular masking tape to divide the page into sections. I also used Reeves Watercolor and a mix of Chinese Watercolor when painting this... pretty much whatever happened to be on my pallette already at the time. I also went over the cards (once the paint had dried) using regular sharpie marker (brush tip).
Final thoughts: I do plan on keeping the information section of the cards the same from here on...whether I create them in polymer clay or watercolor. I wanted the back to have detailed information and thus did not purchase the stickers or stamp. Just enough detail for the card on it's own to be informational but not too much so that it looses the interest of the readers if the information is placed inside a guidebook. I think for my first exercise this turned out quite nice...I was expecting more of a disaster. I have decided that it may be time to invest in some better quality watercolor if I am to keep creating watercolor works. Better quality versions of the ATCs can be viewed here: ParadoxSketchbook Gallery at ATCsforAll. I wonder if this same texture exercise can be studied using other mediums...? Intro: I am sure many of us have heard of Omni Journals...or maybe even have one. I decided that it was time to dedicate a notebook/sketchbook as a personal omni journal.
What is it? If we look at the definition of "omni" we can easily define the journal itself as well. Omni means "all; of all things; in all ways or places" so just use that definition with a journal. Which in summary means that this journal has no limits like this blog. Mixed media journal, scrapbook journal, paint journal, sketchbook, art book, doodle book, diary...etc any and all of those things combined is an omni journal. You can go from doodling to writing down dreams that you have had... events that have taken places or even put pictures you take in the journal and decorate the page as you would do in a scrapbook. That is why I like the idea of omni journaling - there are no limits... no clear definitions. My omni journal: I decided to keep it small in size as I wanted something that I could easily carry around any where I went... from doctor's office to shopping or work or even dinner at a restaurant. The main purpose was to have a surface to place my thoughts and ideas on and have them be readily available in one location. Previously I have had multiple sketchbooks and journals scattered around: some at work, some at home, some are actually sticky notes laying in the car. I wanted to get rid of the imbalance to get some stress off of my shoulders. Too much stress that is created from materials gets in the way of the actual art from being created. i purchased the Strathmore Sketchbook 300 Series that is 3.5" x 5.0" and has 100 sheets. The other psychological way of looking at this is - the size of the journal that I picked. I think artists (or anyone in general) feels more accomplished when they have smaller tasks that they can check off. Compared to one big task getting completed that takes just so much time to complete in the end it looses it's full apperiation from the creator. By having a journal/sketchbook that is small I want to set myself up for achieving personal goals on completing sketchbooks... something I have never done in my life before. I have countless sketchbooks and journals that are unfinished... some close to finishing but deserted. It's always good to have small motivations in life that keep our inner self pleased because in the end if we are happy with ourselves then we are going to feel better about the things we create. In order to appericiate the works I create more than I currently do I want to show myself that I am capable of accomplishing art related goals. By completing these small journals I hope to achieve this goal... as it is going to help in leading to bigger projects (like the Sketchbook Project). Final thoughts: You'll be seeing actual snippets from my journal in the future categorized under it's own keyword Omni Journal. Intro: I have recently been looking at ATCs (artist trading cards)... perhaps creating my own? I do plan on creating them in multiple mediums and then assembling them to create a bigger work of art.
What are they: just as it sounds... trading cards for artists. Collectors use them to collect art of certain artists or various artworks surrounding a theme. An artist can use these cards to brainstorm, doodle, work on ideas, or even create mini versions of final works. Some use these to create 2D versions of something they'll make in 3D materials. Artists do exchange ATCs with each other, some sell them, some gift them...the possibilities are endless. What I am going to make: I am going to be creating 3D ATCs using either air dry clay or even polymer clay. I want to try and make previous paintings or sketches come alive by recreating them in 3D materials. I am going to assemble a collection of watercolor ATCs so you'll be seeing some of them in the future uploaded here as they are created. I do believe the polymer clay ATCs are considered Artist Tiles and not trading cards... but the whole idea is to use them with the same purpose as trading cards - collecting, exchanging, or gifting. Final thoughts: For now I am going to simply start by painting on watercolor paper, keeping the same size and then assemble my own set of cards once I have around 10. I am not going to purchase pre-cut cards.. I'll just cut them on my own. Once I decide that I am able to create enough art on such a small canvas then I'll purchase pre-cut cards. With that I'll also be creating a collection of ATCs focused on "studying." It'll include drawings done in pencils and pens about the human figure and natural objects (trees, birds, etc). You'll be seeing plenty of tests and discussions related to this topic in the future. Here's to a brand new year of creativity with hopefully a lot of new exciting projects... and a truck load of productivity! I was recently looking at art projects that are available (online)...and found two that seemed the most interesting. One is a monthly subscription while the other I have done in the past when it was still new and it is a once a year project. Has anyone else completed any of these projects? Or something different from these that is just as unique? The SketchBox - monthly subscription set-up. I have read many reviews on this subscription box and watched videos as well... there seems to be no negative comments whatsoever about this subscription. It has a unique thought behind it - every month a box gets mailed out to you that has an art project already completed for your inspiration. Along with that are art materials/supplies used to complete that project. There is a description card as well about all of the materials that come in the box. You also get a canvas to work on. Many subscribers have created review videos on YouTube about these boxes and it's enough to get me to subscribe. Once I have my subscription finalized I'll post some details on my first box as well. The Sketchbook Project - basically sketchbooks created by artists from around the USA that are submitted once a year based on options of pre-selected themes. The sketchbooks, if submitted on time, are scanned to be available on the digital library and then go on a tour at selected locations across the USA. I have done this project before but was not able to complete my sketchbook in time to submit it. It is still an interesting project to participate in, in my opinion. I have not gotten a chance to go to the Brooklyn Library to view any sketchbooks yet but do plan on taking a trip in the near future. |
Author: RejiI used to be a digital artist but switched back to traditional art as I feel more connected with the art I create this way. Currently, I create art whenever I can for art trades and commissions. I have worked with clay (earth clay to modern forms like Polymer, Sculpey, even Air Dry clay) along with watercolors, acrylics, oil paints, pastels, charcoal, pen and pencil drawings, India ink, Chinese Colors, wires, felt fabric, yarn, weaving, basket making, and the list goes on and on. I am currently working on exploring nail art, make-up, dress making, scrapbooking, and small canvas art. Archives
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