PORTRAITS W/ KATE THOMPSON: 'Transforming" Face

Let me start off by saying "I adore spending time creating with other artists at all levels!"  It is that time and space that just feels so peaceful and serene...and yes at times frustrating to get something right.  But I am working on that last aspect trying to let my inner artist speak.

P.S> DO YOU SEE WYANNE......

I completely adore her and admire her and am in awe of her talent and strength!!

 

So this is what I am calling my transformation face as she took several different looks before...

I sort of just put her aside to rest my frustrations with getting a result I liked.

And this is where she is at now...

PORTRAIT CLASS W/ KATE THOMPSON: Practicing

I found this image in a SMASH album and decided to apply the lessons I've learned and recreate it. 

PORTRAIT CLASS W/ KATE THOMPSON: Lesson 2

ummmm.....love this coloring method

PORTRAIT CLASS W/ KATE THOMPSON: Lesson #1

If you haven't taken a class with Kate, you need to.  Her techniques are so amazing and so transferrable to any art medium.  She is currently doing a once a month class at Donna Downey Studios...and I am loving it....

per my cup "Lovin.  Drink It Up!"

So this was my first result from her lesson.

And since I left for the class before Tony had gone home, I got to return to this loving note. 

 I just love this man!!

2013 AUTUMN JOURNAL: Fox

As the season goes on, I'm can't tell you how much I enjoy FALL....and love working in my Autumn Journal.  The page I will share today is titled "FOX" for obvious reasons.

It started with wanting to do something fun and whimsical.  So I sketched out a fox and used canvas letters to simply write FOX onto a gelli printed page with fabric accents.

I didn't really like the overall look of the fox, so I added some reinkers to the mix.  I loved how this looked.  Kate Thompson showed us this technique and material during her class. 

I planned on keeping the fox, the same shape and whimsical aspect....but once the ink dried...I didn't care for his figure, but loved the background....so.....

I used another technique from Kate's class ...and started an image transfer of adorable real life fox (foxes?!? not sure what the plural is...my mom would be so ashamed :(  I acquired the images from none other than Pinterest. 

Before printing I mirrored the images:

The images below show the initial result from rubbing off the paper.  I did this a couple of times to make the image not so cloudy.  (Hint: You can use Tar Gel to make it even more clear.)

  

So after the paper dried, I used a Stabilo ALL black pencil to highlight accents of the fox plus it created a better outline.  I instantly fell in love with these little guys (I refer to them as guys since I have so many Warrior girls already in the journal)

I felt I was done at this moment.

But the next day, I needed to add a bit of orange/rust via watercolor to make them more FOXY :)

And I fell deeper in love with the guys. 

Other pages I have completed using inspiration from classes include:

Warriors

Free Spirit

My goal is to complete my first vlog once the album is finished showing each page. 

I truly adore this and love mixing the papers and fabric plus embellishments.

 www.aligitt.etsy.com

FRACTURED ANGELICS: My KATE Face

From start to finish, I tried to make a "Kate" face from what I saw and learned at the art class. 

And I loved it.

I'll admit the upholstery sample was not the most ideal for this, as it sucked in most of the watercolor, but I love the end result. Just need to add a little more white gesso or paint to parts of her to hide the pencil marks, but I think she is finished.  I truly loved playing with random colors and adding them to her face.  It brings so much personality to a drawing.  Thanks Kate for the inspiration.

FRACTURED ANGELICS: Journal - Work In Progress

Class has ended, but work is still yet to be done!

In Charlotte, I took an art class at Catherine Anderson Studio; hence I wanted to finish my journal created as part of Kate Thompson Fractured Angelics class.

Lots of old photos were printed out at a local shop to use as transfers.

(Note To Self:  Make sure to mirror the images before printing.)

I loved the mannequin photo I had on my initial album cover, but so wanted to use this image, the moment I saw it on Kate's Pinterest board.

So I transferred it onto another gessoed board.

Thanks to a handy tip Melissa shared about getting the "chalky" appearance off the picture,

the picture came alive.  TIP: Use Tar Gel and the image becomes so much clearer...

...and shiny.

Plus you can still cover the tar gel with paint & water color, etc.

I added some elements of Distressed Markers around her face prior to making more changes.

This gave it more dimension and shading aspects.

I finished my backcover by applying pastels and rubbing them in with my finger.  I love how subtle they are and embrace the mannequin transfer.  It is one of my favorite journal covers to date.