Look what I've found!! An unfinished painting! Oh, be still my heart!!

Mr. Snowman

I've been starving for something to paint that wasn't sketch related, but loathed stopping and taking the time to plan out a painting! So you can imagine my surprise, when on a hunt for hot press paper, I flipped the cover back on this block of paper and there was an unfinished snowman!! YAY!!!!

I've no idea why he wasn't finished in the first place. No doubt, I wasn't pleased with some little something and abandoned him, mid-painting. Bad me. But yay! for me now!! I have something to paint!! He may wind up being a Christmas card. Then again, maybe not.

I worked on him for a couple of hours this afternoon and I've sketched in the jacket which wasn't there before. Still need a background and other refinements. What color would you paint the jacket? I'm kinda leaning towards red.....not sure whether to add texture or not. Any thoughts?

Those darn weekends! Blink and they're gone!! This one flew by! I did a presentation at the Bloomingdale Library on Saturday on Artful Journaling and ways to add art to your journal. We did a really fun (and easy) project that I thought I'd share here....

Skim through your photographs and find one you like. If you have the capabilities on your computer, turn it into a grayscale, like the image below.

If you're going to be printing on your ink-jet or laser copy at home, make it lighter than you think it needs to be, sort of like a ghost image. (But not too light! LOL!!)

If you don't have the capabilities at home, take the photo to a copy shop (be sure you are the rightful owner of the image, if it has a copyright on it - front or back - they won't touch it) and have them copy it onto heavy paper. Make sure they lighten it first. You may want to have them do a test run on plain copy paper if you're going to have the images copied onto a special paper.* If you want to add watercolor, it's best to use either 90 lb. or 140 lb. watercolor paper.*

*You'll have to take and cup a piece of paper to 8.5 x 11 or thereabouts and take it with you to the copy shop. It's doubtful they will have any watercolor paper. Make sure to test your paper first to determine if it is appropriate for the medium you wish to use.
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• Now, here's the fun part, depending on the paper you print/copy the image out on, you can use various types of media to "colorize" the photo into "art!" Colored pencils, watercolor pencils, acrylics, inks, stamps, egg tempera, gouache, pastels, and anything else you can think of!!

• Put the original image out of sight and let your own color sensibilities take over! You have a photo, use your artistic license to let loose with the color and make the image your own!

• Do the same image more than once to see what kind of different looks you can get - vibrant, pastel, old fashioned, etc.

• If using watercolor, be sure to "prime" the area you are painting with water first, then add pigment. This helps to get past the barrier the toner or ink creates on the paper.

• If using an inkjet printer, test to make sure the inks are waterproof.

• Try turning the photos into a sepia color instead of grayscale for an old-fashioned look!

• Lay different media onto the image to see what other unique looks you can get!

This is the image that was done for Saturday's demonstration. It has both pink and lavender petals as we had two different paint options. Have fun and enjoy! If you decide to go for it, leave a link in the comments - I'd love to see what you come up with!