day two

here is my journal entry for day two of art class. It's very different for me.

New art class

I'm taking a new art class on line and so far I'm enjoying it. Had our first lesson today and I did a few paintings. I tried to let go and free things up. I like my girls with the purple hair. I may do some other stuff with them, but not sure what yet.

I've been bitten by the painting bug since taking my class. I've been sketching a lot more, too. I forgot how much I liked to paint when I was younger. It's been fun getting back into it. I hope to do more. Here are some of the things I've done

Painted faces

I decided to try my hand at some face painting-just last week I joined allnorahsart.ning.com to take Sharon Tomlinson's online painting course. The lessons are great, and I love her teaching style. All the gals in the face painting group are really nice, and its great to talk to people all over the country-the world, even.

I'm learning new techniques-and trying hard to put them to good use. It's been a long, long time since I've done any painting, and this is a lot of fun. And frustrating, too. Here are my first two projects--the purple one isn't quite done-I have to finish her wing (she's an angel) and add some flowers. Her shadowing is a bit too dark-but I just can't play with it anymore. I have more lessons to work on so I think I'll move on to them.

Last week I had some fun taking a class ironing plastic bags and bubble wrap together to make "fabric". Its makes for some interesting pieces that can be used for all sorts of things. I'm thinking of ways to use it for jewelry.

art play

I haven't done much with fiber lately-I've been spending time rekindling my desire to paint. I always been able to sketch and draw with pencils and markers, but can never seem to manipulate paint (of any kind) to do what I want it to do. Well, I found a wonderfully inspiring painter on Youtube. Her name is Mystele, and she started a ning network for artists. Through that I took a mini class she was teaching, and she shares many of her techniques on Youtube. I've been practicing and am enjoying the outcome. I'm looking to find my own style in the process. My mini paintings are for my personal use, but do resemble Mystele's work. I give her full credit for getting me used to painting "her way". Thanks Mystele.

It's been quite a while since I posted anything here, got caught up in the holidays and the cleanup afterward. I haven't done anything fiber related since the Christmas tree went up-no room for my "stuff". In the meantime, I got myself addicted to a "new" form of art called Zentangling, or Zendoodling. Yes, doodling! It seem to be all the rage lately. I decided to doodle all 25 of my ATC's for my trading group this month. It's been fun, and I've found related cool stuff on the web all about doodling. There's even a place out east where you can take a seminar to be certified-for mega bucks. Well, even though its tempting, I figure I've been doodling for at least the past 50 years or so (Yeah, I'm old) Then, this morning while searching for a book I can't find, I came across my graduation yearbook. It made me chuckle. So, I'll share pictures of that and some of the doodles I've done.

Happy Doodles!!