I had a chance to work on a portrait sketch, awhile ago, and thought I would share this. I had no reference model; just kind of started out practicing and this is the result.
Last night I was relaxing and decided I wanted to paint this sketch. I tried out these Copic markers I have and ended up really enjoying them. I only purchased a handful, choosing colors for faces; they are a bit pricey. The dress was done with Conte crayons.
I will use "her" for a future journal page.
Hope you're all having a good week. We had some really wild weather, yesterday, and things are simmering down today. There are still some power outages. I hope you and yours that live in the area of this storm are all okay. The temperature, here, went from 61 degrees to 38 in less than in hour! Crazy!
We have a weekend coming up and I hope you all have a safe and happy one!
My continued thanks to you for all of your lovely comments and feedback you leave for me. I just love sharing art and life with you all!
Love, Marilyn xxoo
In a previous post, I uploaded a picture of my project from Pam Carriker's Angel's Anthology online workshop (see sidebar).
This is my completed project. I decided not to add additional color; I love the shabby-chic look of this. I did mix raw umber with some interference gold to tone things down a bit, painted the face, added some more buttons to the bottom portion, and more cheesecloth was just the touch to tone down the red wing.
Thanks for all of your suggestions, on this, I appreciated your input. The red wing was too much of the focus.
For a final touch, added some areas of Diamond Dust for a little sparkle.
This was so much fun.....thanks Pam! I intend to do a couple more of these. I think I want the canvas to be a little larger. This is on an 8 x 10.
Hope you all had a great weekend; we are at the beginning of a new week and I wish you a safe, happy, and artful one!
Much love - Marilyn xxoo
I was watching some college football with my husband, last night, and decided to get my journal out and do a little sketching. It lead to this portrait. I used the Conte crayons and, by the way, I am in love with them! They are so forgiving, great for travel, and I feel the application is so much more smoother than charcoal.
I didn't have a model for this portrait; kind of winged it and her expression ended up, to me, looking a bit contemplative. I wrote around her face with:
"What is this life I give to art?" It really got me to thinking about my art life. I feel, at this point, like it's one of my family members or a really good friend. Is that crazy? But; it's one of my "joy spots" as is being with my family and friends.
I decided to play around with the portrait in Photo Shop and I really enjoy doing this. It kind of can hide the spots that bother me :) Oh; the inner critic - will it ever leave me?
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. Did any of you venture out on Black Friday? Have a great rest of your weekend!
Much love - Marilyn xxoo
Hello Friends!
I've been so behind, not only, with my own Blog but visiting all of yours. Time is getting away from us isn't it?
It's been a busy couple of weeks, here, and there's more to come with holiday stuff, we have birthdays to celebrate, this month, in my family, and Sophia's is approaching soon. I cannot wait to see her taste her first piece of cake! I will have to get that captured on camera :)
I did want to share this photo, with you, which is a picture of what I have, so far, from Pam Carriker's Angel's Anthology online class (see sidebar). We're already in lesson 3 so I have to work, on that yet, but this is from lesson 1 and 2. I love the process. It's kind of like an assemblage on canvas.
The red wing, is not permanently adhered yet, I'm debating. I thought it would offset the little red heart but not sure. Any thoughts?
If you click on the picture, hopefully you'll be able to read the words there. This is my wish for all of you for your holiday:
"Joy for your spirit
Love for your heart
Peace for your soul"
I am thankful for all of you who keep me flying between your supportive and caring feedback and always inspiring me with your words and art.
Have a safe, joyous and wonderful Thanksgiving!
Much love - Marilyn xxoo
I've been a little quiet, here, posting any art work. Frankly, I don't have much to share at this time. It's a busy time for all of us with holidays looming and I made a commitment of creating my own hand-painted holiday cards that will take me quite awhile. I have online classes going on as well as a workshop of my own coming up next weekend. So; I have much to do, this week, to prepare. Kerri and I are teaching a fabric/paper class in two parts. The first part I will be sharing the process of creating the fabric paper and the second part Kerri will be sharing a surprise project for students to apply their fabric paper. It's a great project just in time for the holidays. I will be sharing photos of the class and student works in future. 
In meantime, I will be visiting Blogs, as I can, so I can still be inspired by what you are all doing.
All stay well, be safe, and happy!
I'll be back soon........Love to all, Marilyn
This past weekend I had an opportunity to get together with some friends and create snowmen using vintage bottles, clay and embellishments! The inspiration, for this project, came from Sue Pelletier who contributed an article in a 2008 Cloth Paper Scissors issue and these snowmen have just caught on across the globe! They are quite addicting and one can just get lost in the activity.
I fell in love with each and every one I did and just cannot part with them. I intend to make many more if time allows.
The photos, here, are of a group shot of all of our snowmen; don't they look so happy together? The other photo is my trio! Such fun!
We actually got a an inch and a half of snow, yesterday; and I think my snowmen had something to do with it :)
Have a safe and happy week ahead everyone! Love to all - Marilyn xxoo
I've been playing around with cabinet cards this week. I have a collection, of them here, and feel they make wonderful substrates for altered art. I've taken pictures of the before and after of each one. The "angel" card is really a drastic change isn't it?
Hope you're all having a great weekend and I wish you a safe and happy week ahead.
Best wishes to all of you!
Love, Marilyn xxoo
