Researching Goddesess.....

Good Morning!
Been a busy few days..... as you know I am taking  Moonshine with Effy, and it has really been interesting and informative..... it has opened a need within me to know more about Goddesses, and there are soooo many of them.. I was googling myself into a hole!  ***confused***

So.. I popped to Amazon, and I picked up a Goddess Tarot Set.. it is Beautiful.... the cards are stunning, and in the book there is just enough info on each one to let me decide if I want to investigate further (mostly yes!)

So I decided to make a Goddess Journal..... had to make a new journal to start with... cos, well, just cos I did.....  then I started playing!

This is Kali, a Hindu Goddess, who has been very heavily stylized in the Tarot Deck as she is quite scary looking in the information I have found on her!

I started off sketching her out, and then I scanned my drawing and printed onto pastel printing paper..... and using Pastel Pencils, started to colour  (my Jury is still out on Pastel Pencils, but I do love the way they blend!)  I added the darkest shades first and blended in, then built up layers of colour to show highlights and shadows.....

(sorry about the change in piccies... some were flash.. some without! :-) )

I then added Twinkling H2O's for her hair......

This is my interpretation next to the Tarot Card.....

I then opened my beautiful new journal..... and made a background for her... cut her out and glued her in..... the writing I added was taken from the Card.......

And I am thrilled!!!!!

Another of the Goddesses in the pack is calling to me...... so she will be my next journal spread in the Goddesses Journal.......

Till next time.....xxxx


OK.. this is freaking me out a bit here... what is going on?   I have uploaded the piccie of her next to the card five times now... and on the original she has all white round her eyes... when it comes up on here, she has blue in her eyes....  it is not like that on the original... Hmmmmm!!!!

You know what.......

I am missing 29 Faces!

Yes I can draw whenever I want... but the deadline MADE me draw.... I miss it!

So... here is todays face! :-)

I like her.....

xxxxx

Did I show you........

My favouritest scrummy shelf on my new art storage system?

Well... here it is!  I am a little bit addicted to making sewn bound journals.... I have been making books for years.. using jump rings or the Bind-it-All, but in Book Of Days Bootcamp, the fabulous Effy did a great tutorial on sewing journals.. and she has created something of a monster in me!   I can't stop making them! (Although I have to right now cos my new rolls of canvas are in the postal system, somewhere and not on my desk... but I am eyeing up an old pair of jeans for a cover if I just can't wait!!!)

So..   One scrummy shelf......

Yayyyy Me! :-) xxxx

Arty Travel Kit!

So... on Wednesday, I went to Art Club...as usual.. I took too much!

So I got to thinking... what do I REALLY neeeeeeed in my art pack.... to take away , to be able to do most things I want to  ,... in as few items as possible for ease of travelling.....

There are loads of videos on YouTube about it... Jennibellie being one of my favourite..... but they are their art needs.. not necessarily mine....

So here is mine.. which I am sure will not be yours... I can see you sitting there saying... WHY has she packed that?  and Where is......  but here it is anyways!

I started with my Derwent Pencil Carry All...... Ok it is a huge pencil case.. but posh.. so needs a posh name!

I have put a rule next to it so you get an idea of the size.. it is large.. but not huge.. so would happily fit in a suitcase!

And here it is filled...... I might as well say now.. pretty much everything in it (apart from the front pocket contents, stumps, brushes and waterbrushes)  is Derwent... saves me typing it out all the time!

 

So.. for starters.. we need a Journal.... Made this one to go in it... it is A5, so a perfect travel size! 

 

 OK... opened.. first section.......Here we have.......Water carrier, cloth to mop up the inevitable spills and cleaning brushes etc... ruler, small pot of Gesso, tin with rubber, sharpener and cotton buds in it...........

First "leaf" of the pencil case!  Cheap paint brushes for Gesso..... paper stumps for blending snips/scissors (just in case) (MUST add a glue stick or something!).......rubber tipped tools for blending ( my new Must Haves!) fat and thin waterbrushes, semi decent paintbrushes (I don't buy "good" ones cos I kill them) couple of stick erasers, fat and thin......

Turn over.......  We have ... White Posca Pen, Black Posca Pen, Black Faber Castel pen, Black Gel Pen........HB, 4HB and 8HB Water Soluble Graphic Pencils ( I love these.. the sketched faces in 29 faces were done with these... amazing pencils!)  Coloursoft White, Blender and Burnisher......

Derwent Tinted Charcoals....... another latest Must Have... these pencils are fabulous for hints and shadows.. I adore them.....

Aquatones... WOW.... these are why the waterbrushes are there... these sticks of pure and vibrant colour are fabulous... and they spread for miles...blend beautifully and are just amazing........ backgrounds sorted! I only have a few of them.. think I need the rest of the set! :-)

The Drawing Pencil range ... now these are fairly new to me... and I love them.... they are great for faces and sultry atmospheric backgrounds...... so perfect for my journals.....  A cracking little set and fabulous to blend with!

WoooHoooo ... an empty side to the pockets.. in case I want to add something!

And finally in the back,  under the elastic strap... my journal and my watercolour set.....

And even done up, and full of lushness...... it is  about the same size as the newest and must have hardback novel!



Now.. having learned a bit over the last few months..... I think maybe my 36 colours in the watercolour set is a bit excessive..... love it to bits... but even with all the colours in there.. I still mix the ones I want... I may get the small set of 12 and really mix them.. be easier to fit in the bag.. Plus I have a dilemma...... do I keep taking things in and out of the bag... or do I buy doubles and have the travel set packed and ready to go at all times?????

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

So.. there is my Travel Pack... I think I have everything I need to do my Journalling/arting/painting while I am away from home.......  what do you think?  Leave me a comment and let me know! :-)

Toodles! xxxxxx

Stressful day, face 30 of 29 and a bit of BODing!

or is it Moonshining?  my brain is fried right now, and I forget!

Had possibly one of my worst mornings ever! ok.. no... but a real tearful and nasty one..... My baby girl cat, who is five, went into be spayed... we have had her and her brother since they were 7 weeks (long story....) but when Bells went to be spayed as a kitten, she had such a bad heart murmur, the vet refused point blank to put her under.....
He heart has got much better... but I hardly slept last night and I spent all morning in a right fog of sheer panic.......was I a murderer... my poor baby girl, I cannot put into words how much I love this cat... you would have thought it was my daughter going under the knife the state I was in!!  Then I got a call to say she was in recovery.. and now she is home safe, sound, spayed and sleepy....... and purring her perfect little soul out at us!

So.. while I panicked all morning.. I caught up on Moonshine and BOD a bit.......  ravens have been involved lately, and they stuck in my mind...... plus one of the talented ladies in the group painted a fabulous face and raven with a tree... and I was inspired.......

So I sketched a church..... and we went from there!

Used my favourite technique of the moment... sketch, gesso, watercolour.........

and more gesso (clear this time) and then tinted charcoal pencils and pen to outline over the top

Fine art it is not!  But so much fun it is!  I love the unpredictability of the gesso over the watercolour... you never quite know if it is going to be usable or binable! LOL  If it is usable.. I adore the distressed look it gives... love painting like this!  (sorry about the picture quality.. lost the camera leads again so using the webcam!!)

So... sticking this in as face 30/29... Yayyyyyy I DID IT!!!!  So proud of me... I never seem to keep up, but I did the faces!!!!

Chuffed-dot-com

Till next time.....Toodles........xxxxxxx

27,28 and 29

........and caught up! :-)

Yesterday was fantastic at the Art Trail.. but has knocked me sideways this morning... so having an easy day.....  sat and did some sketching..... not perfect by a long shot... so I might try again, but in paint this time!

The rest of today is going to be spent playing catch up with Moonshine, Book of Days, Wolves, Portrait Candy and maybe Inner Excavation.......  or I might just make another Journal... cos I obviously need another one! :-)

Hope you have a great Sunday ...... toodles x

Face 26.....

and falling behind! LOL
Forgot to blog again last night... went out early evening.. which was great.. then got caught up in the excitement of Strictly Come Dancing.... Yayyyy.. LOVE Strictly!  Loving the line up this year.... and I am rather partial to one or two of the dancers! <evil grin>

So face 26.... made a little notebook.. cos I adore making books... covered it in old denim, and then drew a face on the cover very much in the style of Traci Bautista, whose work Ilove, and who is a teacher in Lifebook 2014... I have to take that course!

Off out for most of today at the local Art Trail......  but will try and get a face done while I am there.. running out of catch up days, and I am nearly two faces behind now!

Have a great weekend......

Day 26...face 25

Apologies.. Yesterday I was all faced out!   Having done 24 faces in 24 days... even at art club last night....faces were not happening!   Still it is 29 faces in September.. which has 30 days.. so yesterday was my day off.......  I might manage two another day to catch up.. but I am still on target!

So... todays face!

Been to an all day workshop today... it was..... hard! :-)  Fabulous, but mind blowingly hard... intense, and very very out of my comfort zone... I am Shattered!!!

We used pastels... not my favourite of mediums... pencils and sticks..... and we did real... again.. not my most comfortable... OK.. I don't do real cos I can't!  I like abstract cos I can do that....... so all in all a very tiring and brilliant day.......  learned so much.. I just hope I can remember it all...

So.. here is my face......  not perfect by a million miles...or finished... not enough hours to get it all done..... but I am very very pleased with it...... now I have stopped growling at the paper! (yes I did... out loud, frustration got the better of me and I growled! LOL)

Yes it was a brilliant day.. yes I am thrilled with my picture........ and tomorrow.. I think I might slip into my comfort zone of abstract! LOL

Toodles xxxx

(OK.. I had a lot of help... and the image to work on.. but I am still chuffed to chuffingdom... the colouring was sooooo hard!!!! xxxx)

24/29

Hello!
GOOD day yesterday!   Very good day...  Had the docs in the morning and have a tentative diagnosis....  I feel so much better in myself knowing I am not being silly, making it all up or being a fraud!  The doc was lovely... in there ages, and she really listened to me.. really listened... at no time did I feel patronized or a time waster....  Yayyyyyyy!  Now I have an idea of what I am fighting.. I can fight.. it was the not knowing that was killing me!:-)

So.. face 24.... I have tried for a smile.... Hmmmm! LOL
But I am happy.. even if she is a bit scary!

Toodles. xxxxx

And face 23 takes us onto the home stretch!

I am going to miss this.... I will try my hardest to keep up the blogging.. I have had so much fun!  Had a good day today, been out for lunch and had a great time... plus I have the doctors in the morning, and I have a plan of action and I am feeling confident!!!! Yayyyy!!!

Right... face 23...... remember the other day (last Wednesday I think it was.. yes.. it was.. art club night!) I posted an unfinished face, gesso over watercolour over gesso.. with bright pink hair.. all smeared and smooshed and distressed...... well.. I decide although I liked her face, I hated her hair!

So I fiddled with it... using tissues........ and I coloured over her face some more with tinted charcoal pencils... these work soooooo well over paint.. love them!

I quite like her!

Till tomorrow! xxxx

  Tilted close up to show the dimension! :-)

Face 22 ...........

So near the end of the challenge.. I have loved it!
Rough day again.. so nice to have a valid reason to sit and paint...... and now having sobbed myself silly watching An Officer and A Gentleman this evening (cry every time.. can't help it!) I am off to bed......

Toodles! xxx

Face 21/29

.......and forgot to post again yesterday!   Bad me!

It was one of those days!  Rushing about for most of the morning, then decided to not feel "very well" again after a couple of days being OK.. and it all got too much for me... so cried, then went to bed early!  I hate being ill like this.. I hate not knowing, and I hate the fact that silly little things set me back so much.. it sucks!

Anyways.. I did a face...  back to pencils.. cos anything else was just too complicated... and here she is!

20/29 and sitting here rather smug!

Hellllooooo!

Well... today.. I finally plucked up the courage to take my shiny new acrylics out of the box and use them...I have cheap ones I have been using for backgrounds etc... but these are a little posher.. and pricier :-)  and I am scared of them!

So.. with plenty of encouragement from the Fantabulous Glitterhood Girls....  I played..... and I have to say, I am rather impressed with them...... she became a little more "fantasy" than I was aiming for... mainly cos I am crap at mixing colours!  So I took the fantasy idea, and let her run with it and be free....

The background is Derwent Artbars  (there HAS to be something Derwent in everything I do.. even if it is only the pencil I sketch with... Addicted!!)  I scribbled them all around, painted out roughly with a waterbrush, then spritzed with more water.. let it react and swooshed it about to blend.....

AND.. as a first go... I am very very chuffed with her nose shading!  Bit Smug!!

Yayyyyyy!

Till tomorrows....xxxxx

Hat trick for day 19!

Next month, we have an art exhibition being held by my art group, and I will be showing a few canvas's...... so I had better get some more painted then! LOL

I have a set of small square canvas's.. and today I ink sprayed them all up, and then drew out three faces to be stuck on and painted.....  I am not confident enough yet to go straight in.....

So here are the girls....... they have been rubbed right back so the lines are very faint.... and as I type, they are drying under a whole heap of glue and stuff, waiting to be beautified! :-)

Till tomorrow! xxxx

Just quick.. but 18 in the bag!

Evening...... just back from Art Group, and tonight I played with gesso and watercolour.. I love doing this.....  started a little pencil work on her, but then it was home time.. and now it is bedtime! :-)

Here is is... ...till tomorrow! :-) xxxx

Day 17, and for the first time.....

My heart isn't in it!

I have had a mare of a day......  I hope none of you have had the same problem.....  I have been bombarded with spam PMs on facebook since Sunday.... hundreds of them.. they are popping up faster than I can delete them......  Today we thought we sussed it out, and after TWO HOURS of clearing Pm's... I got another 30 off of the buggers...... I am so Arrghrgrhghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Anyway... My shelves are up! Yayyyy (got 17 pms during the twenty minutes they took to put up too!!)  and the new arty creation station is almost under control... just a couple more boxes to sort.....

So todays face.... I hate her.. but tough.. she is as good as I am going to do tonight as I am just not feeling the love....... but I do still adore my tinted charcoals.. it is just what I am doing with them I am less than thrilled with!!

I have gin.. I have chocolate marzipan Ikea cakes.....  I am halfway through a Martina Cole I found in the charity shop and I hadn't read (and I am now having trouble putting down!!)..... and I am off to wallow in the bath!   Then I am off for an early night with another very good murder book on the Kindle!  (yes I multi read...... I refuse to take Frazier (my Kindle Fire) near the bath.. and I can't bath without a book.........  If we are going to be strictly true.. I am reading four books right now cos I am still reading Euripides, and I am reading Woman Who Run With Wolves too......   they are both "doorstep" books and which one I grab depends on my mood at the time of grabbing!  And yes I have doorstep books cos I haven't quite quit the evil weed, and I don't indulge my cravings in the house!)

Toodles! <3 x

Arghrghhhh... I forgot to blog #16!!

So quick.. here she is!  Where did the evening go... bad me!

Same face as number 15, but finished.....

Over the gessoed watercolour paints I added my favourite pencils of the moment.... Tinted Charcoals...  I love these.. they are so much fun to use and produced such lovely results and colours......

For her hair I used two Graphitints and then a water brush to swoosh the colour around....

I like her! :-)

Till later on today with face 17 :-)   xxxx

15/29 ... Halfway point!

And how quick it has flown!   Thrilled that with all that has been going on, I am still up to date (even if I did push it a bit on one day!!)

Had a mad busy day today... was due an Ikea delivery of my new Arty Workspace between 10 and 2, and they would phone an hour ahead of delivery.......  So imagine my surprise when my phone goes at twenty to eight!!!   Yes.. twenty to eight.. on a Sunday!   Thankfully, having been up half the night with my sore throat, I was already up and downstairs with a cuppa!!!

There was a very apologetic man on the other end of the phone...... the roads were totally clear and they were ahead of schedule... was that OK.. see you in 40 minutes!!!

Panic and get dressed then! :-)

SO ... by half eight.. all my new stuff was in the house, and operation assemble it all began.

Just waiting on the drill to charge to put up the shelves..... but here we are so far.... and I am THRILLED!!!!

Obviously.. the first thing I sorted was my pencils..... Feeling Very Happy now I have them all back to hand!!  It felt like part of me was missing!

But.. I still needed a face..... so I resorted to a much loved technique of the moment... which I discovered by Happy Accident (but you all probably know!!)

 A little while ago, I painted a watercolour face.. luckily onto gesso.. and hated her... so in an attempt to save.. I gessoed over the whole lot, ready to start again.....  Hmmm. watercolours "do their thing" with water.. and gesso is wet!!  It smears and smudges and goes all magical fantastical......

So.. I sketched a face.. rubbed it out so it was very faint.. then gessoed over (cos I love pushing watercolour about on gesso!)  Then I painted her.. and when it was all dry, out came the gesso again....  I LOVE this effect!!!

She is not finished.. but I read the rules.. that is OK..... so here she is.....   to be finished for tomorrow.. I hope!  (cos I have to start filling my beautiful new units too!)

Hope you like......  till face 16...... toodles! :-) x

14/29 and feeling.....

BLURGH!!!!


OMG... no wonder my daughter has been whining all week..... I feel a bad mum for not being a bit more sympathetic!!!  I feel (and look) like shit!  This is NASTY!!!!

Sat and felt very sorry for myself today...... and done a little sketch....  I am not so much getting bored with pencils, (shock horror.. that could never happen) but I feel the need for colours......  so I also had a rummage in the boxes and found my paints... tomorrows face is hopefully going to be more than black and white shading! :-)

Right....  I have made it to 7.15..... and I think that is a suitable bedtime for such a poorly Artistic Goddess!!!!

Toodles! :-) x

Nearly forgot..... Friday the 13th

and face 13

Stroppy attitude bi-atch.......  Matches my mood perfectly!

Roll on tomorrow!!! xxx

Pushing my Luck a little for day 12

OK.. Look.. I have been so proud of me.... against all the odds.. I have blogged a new face everyday.....  so I figure I am allowed a cheeky little moment now and then!

Said a teary Goodbye to my beautiful cupboard today... for a number of reasons she had to go, and new stuff is coming (Sunday!!!!)  but at the moment, I have gone from this.....

To this......

And all this is behind me un-gettable at!!!!

Sooooooooooooooooo... with that in mind, and considering it has been an emotional day saying goodbye.... and pushing my luck here to the limit.....  todays face!

And that my friends... is as good as it is getting!!!! PMSL

Hopefully tomorrow I will be back on track! :-)


Toodles! xxxx

Never Forget 11/9

Thoughtful day today..... remembering the hundreds and hundreds who lost their lives so tragically, brutally and unnecessarily twelve years ago.....  I still remember the disbelief I felt at the time.....  I was watching a DVD at home, hubby was off work and doing the decking in the front garden........ and when it finished,  I turned it off and thought I was on the Movie Channel or something watching some awful second rate action film.... then I realized I was watching Sky News and an airplane had just hit the Twin Towers..... in sheer horror I screamed for my hubby and just after he came in, the second plane hit.....  I will never forget the feeling of sickness and the heartbreaking realization that it wasn't all an accident..... my heart then, and now goes out to all who were affected on that terrible day....


I had art club tonight... and while I was there, I drew todays face.....  I tried for pensive..... I may or may not have got it, but I did get pretty......

Until tomorrow... she will do nicely!  Toodles <3 xxx

#10...... La Loba ....

Another day another sketch..... very proud of me.. we are a third of the way through and I am still on target!

I have a poorly daughter today, she was off yesterday and is off today with a rotten raw and inflamed throat, and will probably be off tomorrow too..... so I was still up at the crack of dawn to phone the school, and decided to do a bit of reading.

As you know I am doing the Fabulous Book of Days and Moonshine with Effy..... well, I am also in another group and we are reading Woman Who Run With The Wolves, and journalling our thoughts and inspiration from the book.  Now it is not the easiest of books to read, I will admit.  Very deep, but very enjoyable and very thought provoking.....  I am only on chapter one, and this morning I was reading about La Loba.... The Wolf Woman

Combining the magic I have learned in Moonshine, with the thoughts and research we have been doing, and my early morning reading ..... (and a quick Google search for image inspiration) this lady appeared in my journal.  I am rather pleased with her.....

Now I am off to empty the last of my cupboard and find the screws so I can put the outer doors back on!!

Till tomorrow! <3 xxx

Day 9

and trying very hard to think of Snappy Heading and failing!!!!  In fact, failing to think of very much at all today!

Packed away more of the unit today ready for it to go and the new system to arrive..... so before they got buried in the pile of stuff, I grabbed my pencils and did another face......  tilting to the other side this time, and added a bit of colour to her hair using tinted charcoals....

Very seriously looking forward to getting my art space..... I am missing painting! :-)

Until tomorrow.......  Toodles! x

....and onto day 8 .....

Hello Fabulous People!!!

Another day .. another face.... have been watching the Moonshine Videos and still learning lots... loads of lots...and I really do feel I am learning, actually taking in on board and using it instead of just watching and carrying on as usual!!!  I am thrilled with how my faces are turning out!

Been busy again, emptying the cupboard out, but took a bit of me time to play... and here she is......

Until tomorrow!  Toodles! :-) xxx