Toad in a Boat

This is a work in progress that is still in the terrifyingly ugly stage. I hate stopping at this stage because it’s hard to want to pick it back up again to finish but I ran out of time tonight. She isn’t meant to be bald, I just haven’t decided what I want to do with her hair yet. and hopefully she won’t look so much like a zombie when I’m done with her. This is a cropped version because the whole thing won’t fit on my scanner and it’s too dark here for a photograph. Mixed media but at this point it’s just watercolor crayon and gesso.  Maybe she’ll be looking a bit spiffier by next week’s Paint Party Friday.

In 2011, I decided that I needed to work more outside my  journal. I wanted to do some bigger projects and paint on canvas again. I want to continue that this year but there were times when I really missed my journal, so I’ve decided to start an art journal for 2012. I may not work in it as often as I used to, so that I can still work on other things, but it will be there when I need it.

I’ve been thinking about what word I want to focus on in 2012. I’ve finally decided on STRIVE. I thought about what I want to focus on this year in different areas of my life, what I want to accomplish, and how I can get there. Strive feels like the right word at this time. It seemed like the perfect theme for the first spread in my new journal. Mixed media in a Moleskine sketchbook. Have you found your word for 2012?

I only managed a couple of journal spreads this week so I’ll link this one to Paint Party Friday.

Here is the painting I’ve been working on this week, Twyla and the Dove. It scanned a little darker than true. It is mixed media over collage. The collage that I started with is shown below, in case you like to see how these things evolve. I changed the girl up quite a bit because frankly, the original model looked like she was spaced out on drugs or something. This one was fun to work on and the silliness of it cheered me up. I tried to keep it loose and not get caught up in the details like I tend to do. I’m posting a bit early for Paint Party Friday, since I will be gone most of tomorrow. Be sure to check out what the others have been up to this week!

I think she’s finished. If you remember last week, she almost hit the trash bin. I was just having fits with the background. I kept wanting to put a little lighted hut in the background but I wasn’t listening to her story. She has left her forest home on an adventure but she must be very careful not to be caught! The humans believe her kind are only a myth and she must not let them find out the truth or they will have no peace and will have to move deeper into the forest. She will just have a quick peek and then she’ll disappear into the night.

Mixed media on canvas paper. Below is my palette of acrylics for P&P. I also used white charcoal, black Scribe All and bark Inktense pencils and gesso. I’m also showing the collage that I started with as my inspiration. I’ll be linking to Paint Party Friday and to Tracey’s Palette and Paint. I really appreciate everyone’s comments from last week. You helped save this one!

Happy Paint Party Friday! I’ve been taking Sharon’s Faces in Collage online class and this is what I’ve been working on.  The idea is to use magazine photos in a collage, paint over the images turning them into something else, and let that shape the story. I’ve decided to call this piece Intrepid because the young woman seems fearless and determined and on a mysterious adventure. Below is a photo of the collage images I  used. It was great fun to turn the bowl of pears into an eagle hat!

Sophia is going through a very difficult time right now. She and her father need our prayers. While she is away, Heather at Rose Hill Designs  is hosting Sunday Sketches.

I’m showing off the Junk Mail Book that I made in Carla Sonheim’s Summer Camp. I really loved the puzzle like aspect of this book; how each picture that overlapped a page had to  morph into something else on another page. I hope you have time to click for enlargements to see how it all works together.

See how the mouse on the cover morphs into the winged creature on the next spread? And the head of the creature at the top becomes a sea creature, then a submarine and later a little house.

The horns of the cow become the ears of the own and part of the cows nose becomes a wing tip.

Those fish tails will become lizard feet and one leg of the starfish will become an insect and then a rabbit ear.

The goblins hair came from the cow. The ziggy guy is drawn partially on the clear envelope plastic so he shows on both sides of the page.

One of those trees will become a bird’s beak and the bald guy will become a rabbit!

I really loved working on this and I know I’ll do more this way. The junk mail is covered in gesso and then watercolor and the pictures are drawn in permanent marker. Happy Sunday Sketches!

I’m posting a bit early for Paint Party Friday because I have an early appointment tomorrow. I don’t have a finished painting to show but I have been painting this week. It’s still in the ugly stage so I will just show 3 little bits of it here to prove I’m working on it! It’s not behaving very well for me. I think I’m going to switch to oils. It’s acrylic and collage up to this point. It’s on canvas, 16×20 I think.

Are any of you participating in  Helping Hands for Japan? They are asking artists to trace their hands, cut them out, art them up, and donate the hands for auction, with all proceeds going  to the Red Cross Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami relief fund. The front of mine is watercolor and the back is mixed media. The need the hands by May 4 (I think) so there is still a little time if you hurry!