journaling experiments

9x12

11x14

 

My friends had a journaling night at their studio. They are going to do another one April 15.

Journaling is quite freeform. You sort through a bunch of different collage material, pictures, old patterns, matchbox covers, postcards, yarn, buttons, etc. Whatever you feel like using. Then you glue it onto a paper (I used Behr Faux Glaze), usually in a sketchbook which you may have gessoed the page to keep it from curling too much. Then you go over it with whatever you want. I used woody pencils, acrylic paint, watercolor pencils, pens and pencils. I decided to start putting stuff into a box to use and instead of using a sketchbook I want to use pieces of gessoed cardboard 8x8 and 8x6. Then if I like any of them, I can hang them on the wall.

msc model 14 x 17 pastel on sketch paper

Someone asked me what was I using at sketch club because they said it really glowed. I told them pastels. They said they has some at home that they never used.

This model has really long hair almost down to her waist. I think I started out with green undertones. Ended up using black to make the darks darker. I don't think it deadened the painting. I used a combination of pink and yellow for the skin tones. I like to color in the back ground because it helps me adjust the edge better. This model would tilt her head back as she started to doze but she sat really still. I quick put in the hair because I found it never stays in the same position when the models come back from break. Now if I could just finish a sketch in 25' it wouldn't matter. I wonder when Tony will come back to sketch club. His wife is very ill. Cathy is leaving to close up her house in Arizona now that her husband is dead

boots, 9x12 pencil sketch

I really love these boots. My cousin dragged me into a store in Paris, France and told me I should buy them. She was right. They are a little worn. I keep polishing the toes where the coating has worn through to the fabric. We just finished gluing one of them back together with gorilla glue which we then colored with a marker. I'm not ready to give them up yet.

I started the Komari method of tidying up. I would call it decluttering. To me, tidying up means putting things where they belong. I just finished going through all my clothes. I took 4 garbage bags of clothes to Goodwill. The remainder now fits into my 21"x 44" coat closet and my 24"x 44" clothes closet which also holds some large canvases + four 16 x 11 x 5"sweater boxes on the shelf. You're supposed to put and fold most stuff in drawers but I don't want to take up the floor space with a dresser. You're also supposed to put the clothes in order by shirts, pants, etc and not sort them into where you wear them. However, I really don't feel like trashing my everyday clothes by wearing them when I'm working and I separated out 4 dressy outfits I only wear when I have to dress up. I also sorted by season which she said was unnecessary because of central air and heat. I disagree. I spend a lot of time outside. We keep our house cold in winter and don't use an air conditioner plus we walk one hour outside almost everyday no matter what the weather. Therefore I need clothes that go from 0 to 90 degrees Farenheit with 80 degrees humidity in summer. In winter I wear long underwear, heavy sweaters, lined flannel shirts and 2 pairs of socks. In summer I wear shorts and short sleeve cotton shirts unless I'm in working or there's a lot of bugs. When there is a lot of bugs I wear long pants and long sleeve shirt because insect repellent makes me ill so I minimize putting it on my skin. In fall and spring I wear t-shirts and long sleeve cotton shirts. That said, it's not really a problem getting rid of clothes. Now books, which is the next thing to go through, is another story. My goal is to make all the books, including cook and music books, fit on the shelves in the front hallway.