29 faces - day 9

Today I've returned to Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists by Carla Sonheim. This is an exercise where you draw a face from life or a photo using a permanent marker and your non-dominant hand. 

As soon as I put a pen in my left hand my brain starts to laugh. I'm sure it's saying, 'What do you think you're doing? You're going to try to draw with that hand?' Which I think is the point. The expectations are lower and somehow the results work. This is a simple line drawing, but somehow it feels more like a real drawing than the first few faces. 

Have you ever tried drawing with your non-dominant hand? I recommend it as a fun exercise. 

And if you haven't looked at the other participants' faces, I can recommend T Martin's monoprints and upside-down drawings (#87), Mimi Boothby's beautifully drawn famous characters (#29), Anne Terkelsen's luminous portrait of Tom Petty (#143), and Terri Stegmiller's lovely colourful faces on patterned backgrounds (#60). 

29 faces - face #8

Today I thought I'd throw caution to the wind and go straight for it with a marker pen. It's like working without a safety net. Once the line is there, it's there and I have to live with it or start again. I promised myself that I would just live with it.

This is a self-portrait which doesn't actually look all that much like me due to misplaced lines that I had to live with:) It's based on a photo put through Photoshop, made black and white, and simplified using the cutout filter. Only two shades were used - grey and black. The other colours are showing through from the brayered and stencilled background. 

I think I'm pleased with it in terms of process rather than results. I had to be bold about placing lines. There were no pencilled outlines, honestly! I can feel myself stretching already :)

29 Faces - Day 7

Face #7 is a simple collage of just 5 pieces. A very quick page, just trying to break away from the 'draw an outline and fill it in' that I seem to have fallen in to. 

Don't forget to use the 29 Faces button in the sidebar to hop on over to Ayala Art's blog and see what everyone else has been up to. 

And in my journal this week:

Once a month a group of five women meet together to do life, encourage, pray, and grow. I am privileged to be a part of it. We call our group dangerous women from the book by Lynne Hybels Nice Girls Don't Change the World. It is a pleasure to be able to meet with women who will hold you accountable, challenge you on behaviour and attitudes, and allow you to be open, to cry, to laugh, to just be yourself.

Thank you to the dangerous women in my life.

29 Faces - Day 6

Acrylic paints and a brush today. But when I finished it, there was that pesky outline again! I tried to work in some shadows and highlights this time without blending the colours too much. I have a tendency to want everything nicely blending from one shade to the next, although I admire many artists who are able to do this style with panache and vibrancy. Maybe by the end of this month I'll find my inner 'daubing' artist :)

29 faces - day 5

So, let's really get out of the comfort zone and use something that isn't my favourite medium - good old wax crayons. When I finished this face, I realised that I still drew an outline and then filled it in. Must work on that!

And back in the art journal:

I'm working on a few projects that are starting to come together. It's a year for reaching out and starting to work in a wider circle. Who knows what might happen?

29 faces - day 4

I felt it was time to give up some of the control in this whole face-drawing exercise so I broke out a palette knife. I really don't consider myself a painter. I usually use a palette knife to add gesso or paint to the background of a journal page so it's pretty blocky. This was a very quick face done in white paint. I can't say I like it, but it made sure I worked without a pencil outline.

29 Faces - Day 3 + Journal Fodder 365 - Prompt #37

It's day three of the 29 Faces challenge, and I'm feeling sort of stuck. My faces are looking similar. I think I need to try something with shading. Something that looks less diagram-like and more realistic. Still, 26 days in which to improve :)

And thank you everyone for your comments and encouragement so far. I will definitely visit everyone but I can't promise to comment on everything. The list of participants is just growing!

And in Journal Fodder 365 I'm up to chapter 10 and prompt 37, which is breath.

The idea with this prompt was to think about how you centre yourself. How do you gather your resources when you're feeling scattered?

For me, it has to be prayer. I come back to myself when I remember who I am in Christ. He is my centre, and if I drift away from Him, I lose myself. So I need to breathe in Christ to be filled with love, grace, mercy, compassion, so that I can breathe it out to others.

29 Faces - Day 2

This face is based around eyes made from a hand-carved stamp. The rest is done with markers and inks. The background has ghosted gelli-prints and a try-out of a stencil. 

29 Faces - day 1

I've seen the 29 Faces challenge around on other blogs and thought I'd join in this round. Hop on over here to see all those other faces that are being drawn this month, or use the button in the sidebar.

I'm not really that secure in drawing faces and I find that they tend to all look similar, so I'm hoping I'll learn, grow, and stretch (my word for the year) during this month of experimentation.

I have an old exercise book that I've been using for cleaning off my brayer or gelli-plate so decided to use that. For starters here's a face drawn with an eyedropper full of ink. It's one of the exercises in the excellent book Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists by Carla Sonheim. Using an eyedropper means that you have less control and so letting go of perfection is a bit easier. There will be blobs. You just have to accept that.

This face started with purple ink but it didn't show up too well so I went over it with black then added a couple of highlights with a white correction pen.

Said and heard

I'm sure you've come across it, that gap between what you said and what was heard.

It can be frustrating and time-consuming as you have to put right the damage done by a misheard piece of information being passed on.

Or perhaps it was one of those times where you said something in one way and it was taken in a completely different one.

I think of the latter as having been heard through a filter. We all have them. They come from past experiences, learned habits of reaction, expectations of behaviour of others. Whenever you say something innocent and the person you're speaking to takes offence or reacts in a completely unexpected way, ask yourself what sort of filter they might have. If you know them well, this is somewhat easier.

If there is something you need to be heard clearly, have the person repeat back to you what they understand you to have said. It might seem a bit over the top, but it will save a lot of heartache and frustration in the long run.

And try to be aware of your own filters. Measure your reactions to what is said to you and ask yourself whether you are clearly hearing what is being said.

Communication is important. Do it as well as you can.