Trying to get back into the swing of blogging again, trying to do another post before an entire month is up!! Trying, but I have had this tab open for a couple of weeks now and have not completed this post!! There are so many things competing for my time and as usual the blog comes a distant 5th or something like that!
So what should have I been doing lately other than caring for the family, which does take priority, in my spare (cough, cough!) time? Class projects are always at the front of that list, but this month I managed to get all of those done early on in the month and then my Prima box for CHA creating was late, so I have a whole week of time that could be used to play, just for me. What did I choose to do in that time..... Take a Bloom Girl Online Workshop with Jamie Dougherty! Now if any of you know me, you will know that it has been a deep seated desire to be able to draw, specifically a face so this workshop was a step in that direction. What I didn't anticipate was how it would change my creative outlook!!
You may wonder how a workshop can change your creative outlook, but it did through one main thing...Jamie taught me how to draw a side profile face and from that one accomplishment.... I now have the confidence to draw more and I am going to admit that I have stunned myself, yes, stunned as I truly didn't think I could draw, but now, with practice I believe I have that capability.
Here is a quick look at the progression of drawing my face for the Bloom Girl Workshop. You can see in the first of the images all the guidelines I have drawn, just as suggested in the workshop to ensure the proportions are correct, through to refining the details and finally colouring and shading.
and then the finished product. I added some of my own mixed media elements to the background. She now is framed and sitting in my bedroom. Can't part with her as she is the beginning of a new era of creativity for me, with huge thanks to Jamie for her wonderful online workshop.
After completing this girl I then decided it was time to put some of the techniques to good use and see if I could manage a front facing portrait....
she then turned into this canvas....
and then the challenge became to draw different styles of faces, even more whimsical (I know my limits, and creating anything realistic is my limit so lets just go with whimsical as I figure I can have more success with that! LOL!)
You can see on the left hand edge I quite literally drew her on the scrap left over from cutting out the previous face. Still a frugal girl at heart! I also had a very distinct idea in my head for the canvas background for this forlorn face. I wanted it all kind of dripping downward like rain on a window.
and the moment you know you have become truly obsessed is when you take your pencils and paper to the school closing excersizes and sit in the back row sketching away! Yep, I did that! Naughty me! :) but I did sketch the girl that later became this piece which I gave to my niece for Christmas.
As you can see I can be a little full on when I discover something new. I have 3 more sketches in my journal, ready to be created into canvases. However I now have to do some CHA creating! Oh and create some classes now for February as well. I swear it never, ever ends!! LOL! Speaking of classes....
I didn't teach any card classes for a couple of months but a few of the regular girls were asking for another card class and there was also a desire it be a masculine one! Well, that is always a challenge at the best of times! I created these cards and I would like to point out, not a flower in sight! That is a first!
I used the Prima All Stars range for these and I have to say there are enough text style papers in this range for it to feel more vintage masculine than just sporty. It was really easy to work with and if you want to incorporate the sporty aspect you can. I will also say I am in LOVE with Prima's stitched shape stamps! They are fabulous for both cards and pages alike. I have the rectangles and the squares, now I just have to get my hands on the circles!!
There was also a canvas class. Only a little 6x6 canvas, but so much fun to create and really quite easy. All the ladies had a lot of fun making theirs. The other benefit, I need a teacher gift.... sorted! I hope the teacher likes it!
So there really has been a great deal of creativity happening in this household! Really wish I had my own little studio at times as I quite literally cant walk down one side of the bedroom from all the scrap/art supplies that are in boxes on the floor as I have run out of room to store it all. Hubby suggested I get rid of some of it... I gave him the glare of the century and informed him I needed it all! Quite protective of the stash, I must say!!
Finally, Christmas has come and gone in the house! It was made extra special this year, as my Brother and his family flew in for a few days. It had been almost 4 years since we had seen them last! I had seen them a couple of years ago when I was up in Brisbane to teach and caught the train down to the Gold Coast to spend the night at their place, but they hadn't seen the kids in that time. Bit of a surprise to go from seeing my eldest as an 11 year old to seeing him again as a 15 year old. He now stands almost eye to eye with his Uncle now.
My brother Stirling and I, and my SIL, Deidrie.
Then just as they were about to leave on Christmas Day we remembered we needed to take a photo of all the cousins together! So glad we got the picture.
Just for comparison, this is the last time the cousins saw each other back in August 2010. Yeah, they have grown up a bit since then!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. Now I had better get off the computer and go and finish cleaning up the house after it saw over 30 people through it's doors yesterday!!