Mario Gomez is German. Seriously!?! (Manly Face #3)

So, I've made it to Ireland. And I really should be sitting in a garden sketching birds and fabulous sculpture.  Instead, I find myself posting a sketch of yet another soccer player (for Ayala's June Guys Challenge) and explaining how I became a fan of the German national soccer team (at least for one night).  But first, here's the inspiration photo I used for my sketch of German striker Mario Gomez (it's from Photobucket):

As predicted, I have spent every night in Ireland in a pub watching Euro 2012 unfold (for the uninformed, that's a soccer tournament which takes place every four years; teams compete by country, and the winner is crowned "Champion of Europe").  On Wednesday, Henry and I headed over to Sinnott's Bar. We arrived early enough to watch Portugal beat Denmark, which made me very happy. I have a soft spot for the Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in general because there are so many Portuguese immigrants where I live (Half Moon Bay being a fishing town and all).  Netherlands v. Germany was due up next, and the pub started filling up with fans dressed in either orange or white jerseys.  The Dutch fans located in one part of the pub draped orange bunting around their section.  By the time the match began, the pub was packed (this photo was taken during the Portugal game when there was still plenty of room to move):

Henry and I smiled as the fans surrounding us belted out their national anthems (the Dutch out sang the Germans, by the way). The lights dimmed, and the match began with constant cheering from both sides. It was an awesome place to watch the match!  German striker Mario Gomez scored two goals, and I asked my son "Is Mario Gomez really German?" He said, "Yes." "Seriously?!?" "Yes, seriously." It turns out he was born in Germany, to a German mother and Spanish father. I think he's gorgeous, by the way (much better looking in real life than in my sketch).  Two girls from Hamburg asked if they could join us, and we got to talking.  One worked for Twitter. She had worked in San Francisco for a couple of years and has now been posted in Dublin.  We met another German fan who was from Ecuador but grew up in Spain, had worked in Dallas, Texas for five years and now Dublin since 1999. I love how soccer makes the world smaller and unites people from all over the globe. Given that we found ourselves in a pocket of German supporters and that a German victory would help Portugal advance, we decided to cheer on Germany. We didn't actuall join in the chants of "Deutsche - land," but we were mighty tempted!  And we did high five those around use every time the Germans put one in the back of the net.
More stories (and sketches) from Ireland coming soon!  What have you been up to this week?

A Peek Inside My Sketchbook: Manly Face #1

My blog friend, Ayala, is hosting a "June Guys" challenge, to create at least four manly faces during this month.  You can read all about the challenge at this link.  Since I'll be glued to pub televisions following Euro 2012 during the month of June, I thought I'd join the challenge and plan to sketch at least four soccer players.  My first manly face is a pencil sketch, based on this image:

It's David Beckham, of course! Or at least my sketchy rendition of him. . . 
If you want to join Ayala's challenge, you can grab this blog button and join the linky (here):

Hope to see a few of you participate.  Anyone else planning to follow Euro 2012? If so, which team is your favorite?

Class Review: Watercolor Sketching

I just completed the class "Watercolor Sketching" presented by Cathy Johnson, free of charge at Strathmore Artists Studio. The class consisted of four lessons, released one per week, starting on March 1 (but all now available until August 1).  Each lesson includes a basic video, a bonus video and a downloadable PDF.  The first two lessons were on basic watercolor techniques and how to incorporate them with drawing.  I found that watercolors are harder to work with than acrylics, in terms of blending. And less forgiving.  But definitely easier to transport.  The second lesson was on mixing watercolors with other media:

For this page, I started with a variegated water color wash, drew some shells in ink. Added highlights with other ink pens and some gesso.  The final lesson was on collage with water color:

I love this page I created about Clara's obsession with her cell phone.
All-in-all, I found it to be a very satisfying class.  The basic lessons provided enough information to try new skills, while the bonus videos showed Cathy Johnson working through larger water color projects.  It started a little slow, but the last two lessons were jam-packed with information and exercises. There was a forum (which I couldn't figure out) and a photo gallery in which I didn't participate. But those are small quibbles.   I give the class a solid A.
Anyone else take this class?

Cherries - A Peek Inside my Sketchbook

Cherries may be my favorite fruit. The season is short, but oh so sweet! What's your favorite fruit?  Is it in season yet?

Windmills, Water Towers and Beehives: A Peek inside my Sketchbook

Last weekend I traveled to California's central valley to take my son Henry to a soccer tournament. All kinds of images filled my head and made their way into my sketchbook. These are all common sights in the valley, but not very common around here. Well, the old fashioned windmill came from my imagination, not the valley!  But I did see lots of windmills, and I did a larger, more realistic windmill based on the ones that populate the valley:

I also looked at some stylized bee images and came up with my own version:

Are any of these common sights near where you live?
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A few blog notes:
1. Yesterday, I posted this asking for your vote. If you didn't get a chance to check it out yesterday, please do today. Thanks!
2. Tomorrow, April 5, I plan to take place in Abi's "Operation Speak Out" and pledge to comment on all the blogs I visit. Are you playing along? You can read more about it here.

A Peek Inside My Sketchbook

Three months ago, who would have thought I could have made this passable sketch of my dog Gypsy?

Certainly not me!  It's not perfect, but it certainly surprised me.  How about you? Have you done anything to surprise yourself lately?

A funny thing happened to my owls . . .

In the Art of Wild Abandonment class I'm taking, the instructor Junelle Jacobsen created a wonderful art journal page featuring owls.  Here's an example of one of her owls, taken from her blog "Yes and Amen."

It was a totally fun exercise to create these whimsical creatures.  But a funny thing happened to my owls.  As I drew in the wings, they looked more and more like baseballs.  Which, of course, makes sense because drawing and art journaling taps into the artist's experiences and subject position.  And, you know, I'm all about baseball.  So, I went with the baseball theme and created the art journal page up top.  I titled it "The Joplin Night Owls of 1910," (named after a Negro League team from back in the days when American baseball was segregated).  I like my whimsical owls, and I realized that in many ways they reminded me of a baseball photograph I took and used in this recent art journal page.  I had been toying with the idea of doing a painting based on the photograph during Alisa Burke's Finding Your Muse online class.  Obviously, my subconscious hadn't let go of the idea.  So, I went with it and created this art journal page using acrylic paints:

I think one of the things I love most about art is the way it taps into my subconscious and brings out the things which are percolating inside my head.  Junelle has described the process as one where we "Let our hearts speak through our fingers."  I guess my heart is more full of baseball than owls!  Are there things in your heart which you find your fingers speaking about over and over?

Sketching Spring

I took out my sketchbook to draw some thumbnail sketches using the prompt "spring," and I came up with these images (which I water colored).  One of the exercises in the Art of Wild Abandonment class I'm taking is to make art journal pages using your sketches.  So, I took my chick idea and made this page:

It's water colors on a gessoed page with ink highlights.  The journaling reads "My two little chicks have grown up so fast . . . " I'm really enjoying this process.
The chicks remind me that Easter is just around the corner.  I'll be traveling that week with one of my little chicks to go tour colleges! We'll be seeing Oregon State, University of Oregon and Gonzaga University. Do you have plans for Easter?

PPF: Watercolored Sketches

I just started taking the online course, The Art of Wild Abandonment, taught by Junelle Jacobsen and Christy Tomlinson. The first week's lesson introduced me to the idea of working in a sketchbook.  I sketched some lavender sprigs and colored them with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush:

I'm really quite pleased with how they turned out because, before this year, I would have said that I couldn't draw!  Practice really pays off.  Working in a sketchbook is completely new to me.  Although I work in art journals often, the sketchbook feels different.  The sketchbook pages are done more quickly, and I feel even less concern about whether the drawings turn out "right."  It's a very freeing process.  And I'm really beginning to understand how my sketchbook will provide tons of ideas for things that will become art journal pages - or prayer flag samples, canvases and other works of art.  I think I'm hooked!  What about you? Do you work in a sketchbook?  How doe you see it as different from your art journal?
I'm sharing this as part of Paint Party Friday.  For more painterly goodness, check out the artists listed in this link.

New Classes, New Blogs, and OLW Weekly Check-In

I wanted to share a few new things at the start of this new week.  First, I'm starting an online class offered by Strathmore. They have a series of three classes, and they're free! You can check them out at this link.  Although I signed up for all three classes, I didn't (yet) do anything with the first one - Doodles by Traci Bautista.  She's a super nice person (I was lucky enough to meet her a few times) and wildly creative, so I do hope to get back to it at some time.  I just started Class #2 on watercolor technique, and I'll definitely learn a lot from it!   I made the art journal page up top earlier this week to celebrate my birthday, and this cute little thank-you card:

The third class (force drawing) intrigues me - it will be interesting to see what it entails.
I also plan to work my way through the new free online class by Alisa Burke called Finding your Muse.  You can check it out here.
Anyway, if you're looking for some new creative inspiration, check these out. The price is definitely right!
I also wanted to share links to some of the cool blogs I found during Ayala's 29 Faces Challenge.  The first one is Ayala Art, hostess of the challenge.  She's super sweet and very talented. The second one is Nordljus, owned by Katja in Switzerland.  I love finding blogs from other countries which give me a sense of traveling there. Katja's painting and photography do just that.  Finally, check out Miz Katie, a wonderful painter who has been blind in one eye since birth. I'm not sure if this is what gives her art such an interesting perspective or not, but I definitely love her style.
How about you? Got anything new to share? Anyone taking the new class offered by Shimelle (Hitchhiker's Guide to Scrapbooking)? What about the new Ali Edwards Workshop Five?
Thanks to everyone who stopped by yesterday for Storytelling Sunday.  To answer your questions, no the photographs were not taken with my new camera. They were taken before I made the purchase.  I have started experimenting with my new camera, but I haven't yet figured out how to download them to my computer (!!!). When I do, I will be featuring my March monthly make.  Also, the boys did win the baseball game! It was a good day.
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Weekly OLW Check-In.  This week, I cleaned out the two storage sheds in the side yard.  Threw out a variety of rusty garden tools; about two dozen deflated balls [you name it, we had it - baseball, soccer, volleyball, Irish football (yes, Henry played a season or two of this sport, also known as Gaelic football, in a San Francisco league; and, yes, he was good at it), basketball, dodge ball, etc. ]; lots of plastic sand toys; leftover hot tub supplies; and assorted other outdoor/garden stuff. I'm readying up the yard because when Deb hosts her pot luck/recipe exchange blog hop later this month (sign up information here), I'll be welcoming everybody out back.  

PPF: Faces 18-21 (and stamp give away winner)

It's the first Paint Party Friday of March, and I'm posting the last of my faces from the 29 21 Faces Challenge run in February by Ayala.  I really like this one - I think she'll be a recurring figure in my art journals.  The journaling is a letter to my daughter, inspired by the song "I won't give up on us" by Jason Mraz. (Don't know who Jason Mraz is? Check out my friend Carrie's blog, and you'll become a fan).  By the way, thanks so much for all your good wishes last week on parenting a teenage daughter.

Things definitely are getting better with her, although since she's so much on my mind, she keeps popping up in my art journaling. This page is called "learning to fly," and I enjoyed incorporating some rubons and drawing on a piece of patterned paper.
But not all my faces are serious. Here's a quirky pair that I made using the water color technique I learned in the 101 Faces class. Except that I used acrylic paint instead.  It was a little more difficult to get a result I liked.  But of the ten face blobs I started with, these two managed to capture my imagination:

I call them Guido and Sluggo.  I'm sure they have a story to tell.
Finally, my last face for the month.  

It's an art journal page. Acrylic paint with rub ons. Not sure where the inspiration came from, but I ended up liking the strength and confidence in it.
Although I only managed 21 faces, instead of 29, I'm really glad I participated in the challenge and really appreciate the inspiration given by Ayala, as well as the opportunity to meet some new blog friends. And I'll definitely keep drawing faces in my art journals and other places. If you want to check out some of the other 29 Faces artists, check out this link.
And, the other paint party participants are here.
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Finally, congratulations to Beverly of BEGlorious on winning my March Stamp Give Away!  Beverly, email me with your mailing address. If you would like to win some new or gently used stamps, check in on April 1 for the next set.

Rethinking 29 Faces

I've been participating in Ayala's 29 Faces Challenge, but I was starting to get stressed because I was falling behind.  So, I gave myself permission to create 21 Faces instead of 29 and I felt so much better. In my more relaxed state, I created faces #12, 13, 14 and 15.  I started with these two faces because I wanted to focus on lips and eyes. I think the key to lips may be that there needs to be shading and highlights. And I think I need to work on making my eyes bigger.

Then, I moved on to trying to incorporate faces into art journal pages, and I came up with this page using a watercolor face:

Finally, I created the page up top,which was my favorite. It feels really good to be art journaling again, and I'm really happy to find a way to start incorporating my faces on my pages.

Faces 9, 10, 11 and Some Reflection

I'm somewhere between a third and half way through the 29 faces challenge, and I've learned a few things. Let me know if any resonate with you.
1. I can draw a basic face now. It doesn't scare me, and I could confidently add a face to an art journaling page or card or mail art envelope if I wanted to.
2. I'm getting the hang of eyes, but mouths still elude me.
3. Using more than one media or color creates a more satisfying end result.  Even if I start with oil pastels (Sybil) or acrylics (overworked), it helps A LOT to add pen, pencil or marker to add definition.
4. I'm getting to the point where I want to create more than just the face - adding bodies, clothes and the scene will probably be the focus for the next part of this project.
5. I'm not sure I've found my "style." I really like the water color faces (like I did yesterday) but I don't see those working into my larger mixed media pieces. The faces from today seem more likely to be useful in that regard. Although I could see the water color faces on cards.
6. It's hard for me to stick with a project past the two week mark.
7. Joining a blog challenge is a great way to meet all kinds of new blog friends! I've discovered some wonderful new blogs and artists through the challenge.  I'm off to visit some of them now. If you want to see them, check out the tags at this post.
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OLW Weekly Check-In:
This week, I cleaned out the laundry room, which also meant I organized the china buffet and display case. Tossed out two big bags of garbage and came up with one more bag of stuff to donate.

Paint Party Friday: Hopes and Dreams on Prayer Flags

I'm posting to Paint Party Friday on Thursday because Friday is the 10th, and I plan to participate in Shimelle's Ten on the Tenth meme. I'll link up on Friday, though, so you should find this on the right day. Thanks to everyone for their comments on last Friday's painting and input about prayer flags. I did more research, and you can read my post about it here (in case you didn't see it already).  Today's painting (art journal page) is drawn with oil pastels and painted with water colors (twinks). There's more prayer flags and houses and my face for Day 6 of the 29 faces challenge. 
The art journal page started with my Day 5 sketch, which incorporated an idea from Gina of Daydream Believer about how to incorporate faces into my art journaling. She suggested writing in long, flowing hair, and I came up with this:

I like way it morphed into a full blown art journal page. I find myself doing that more and more often lately - starting with a sketch and then building from there. Do you do that much?
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For more of 29 faces, go to this link.
For more of paint party friday, check this out.

Class Review: 101 Faces with Carla Sonheim

I am finally finished with this wonderful class . . . or at least finished enough to write a review.  Carla Sonheim offered this class as a repeat of an earlier online class.  It cost $35 and ran for five jam-packed days.  She bills it as a "summer camp" or boot camp style class, with A LOT of assignments packed into five days. Each day began with an email and a warm up exercise (a PDF to print out). There were then two assignments, communicated via videos. One assignment was generally focused on drawing and the other was focused on painting. They covered a wide variety of media and asked participants to repeat the techniques 4-10 times. Sometimes faces were drawn from a reference photograph; others were drawn from the imagination. The goal was to have fun trying out a variety of media and to find a style that worked for you.  Carla established a flickr group where participants posted their faces and received comments. Comments could also be made on the class blog, but I didn't notice much activity there. 
Day 1 featured watercolor faces (from your imagination) and left-handed drawing. I loved the watercolor faces! Day 2 was about drawing with sharpie markers (from a photo reference) and portraits with an ink dropper. These were both difficult for me, but I was surprised to get a few decent results (including the one at the top of this post).  Day 3 was one line drawings (hated these!) and realistic drawings with pencil, sharpie and watercolor crayons (both from a photo reference). I found these difficult but a very good exercise. Day 4 was scribble drawings from live models (loved these) and graphite and pastel portraits from your imagination (drawn with an eraser). I didn't really care for the last two techniques, though the pastels were better than the graphite. Day 5 was drawing with colored pencils from a photo reference (difficult for me and made me realize that colored pencils are definitely not my medium); stylized charcoal drawing from a photo reference (I substituted pastels - love these!!!) and stylized conte crayon drawing from a photo reference (I substituted oil pastel crayons and enjoyed working with them). The final class assignment is to reflect on what you have done and make ten more faces in the style that works for you. 
I think my favorites were watercolor faces (from imagination), scribble drawings of live models and both pastel techniques, so I'll make more of each of those.
Overall, I thought this was a terrific class! I experimented with a variety of different media (and found it easy to substitute what I had for anything I was missing from the supply list) and really began to get a sense of the importance of shading (in realistic faces) and the difference between drawing from a reference vs. real life vs. from my imagination.  These last two things were wonderful insights for me. The flickr group worked well, and Carla visited often commenting on almost every face posted!  I also thought, at $35, it was reasonably priced for all the content.  In terms of improvement, I would have appreciated an introductory lesson or video focusing on the big picture of drawing faces (shapes, proportions, etc.). I think that if I had not learned this in an earlier class, I would have been really lost. There's a lot of "learn by observing and doing" (reinforced with repetition), without as much instruction or drawing theory. I also think I would have preferred to have the class run as a three to four week class, with the assignments spread out a bit more. Although I did the first 3 days in the first week of January, the other two got spread out. The videos are available forever, so I was able to pace myself, but by the time I got to days 4 and 5, there was not community left with which to interact. Overall, I give the class a solid A-.
I'd love to hear from others who took the class or others who are considering taking drawing classes.
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OLW 2012 Weekly update: not much to report this week. I battled a bad cold most of the week and organized a big soccer event (Youth Night on Friday night), so didn't have the time or energy to do much. I did finish the Faces class and encouraged DH to call the handyman to haul away some things! I'll do better next week.

29 Faces, Part 1

Ayala is hosting a February challenge called "29 Faces," which encourages participants to draw one face a day for the month of February.  I have found that the more I draw faces, the better they get, so I wanted to join along.  Also, I'm still working on finishing up the assignments from the 101 Faces class I started in January. It's a perfect combination.  I'll share the faces in groups, rather than daily, and today's the first trio. The one up top is done with pastels and has a definite Frida Kahlo inspiration.

This second one didn't scan very well, but it's a simple, sweet pencil drawing of Clara (and that pink streak is not there in real life!).  And finally, an art journal page:

It's an acrylic face and the journaling reflects the fact that I'm still not sure how to incorporate faces into my art journal pages.  For more faces, check out the linky here.
These faces are all very different - do you have a favorite?

Pastel Faces

After taking a small break from the Faces 101 class to deal with my real work (grading 150 exams from the previous term mainly!), I found a little time today to play.  These faces were made by laying down some pastels and then using a kneaded eraser to wipe away the lighter parts of the face, leaving the pastels to define the shadows. It was a fun (if challenging) assignment.  Particularly because I love pastels. I like how this group of faces look together - sort of like a pair of characters (mother and son, up top) and a couple of guy friends hanging out together and enjoying a beer (the two in the bottom row). Or maybe a family (with mom and dad the faces on the right; then two sons, the older on the bottom row and younger one up top).  What do you see in these faces?

Paint Party Friday: Colorful Characters

Thanks to everyone who visited last week as part of Paint Party Friday!  I tried to visit as many of the participants as possible, although blogger seemed to be eating many of my comments.  I really enjoyed the link-up, and I'm back again this week with two more characters.  For these, I wanted to make the faces more colorful (last week's all had fairly true flesh tones), and I really liked the results. In comparing with last week's faces (here and here), these seem to have more character and depth. I think it's a result of my growing confidence.  I want to try something similar using acrylic paints, instead of watercolors.
It's funny, I've always said that I don't like working with watercolors. But what I should really say is that I don't like working with traditional watercolors.  These paintings were done with twinkling H2O's and a water brush.  I'm curious about what other water color and brush combinations people use and like - please share your recommendations in the comments.
And thanks for stopping by!

Scribble Faces

Day 4 in the Faces 101 class called for "scribble faces." I sat in a local taqueria (waiting for my to go order) and quickly sketched the people around me.  I really enjoyed doing these. The two on the left are both of my husband.  He liked the top one well enough that he made it his profile picture on facebook! The more faces I draw, the easier they become, and I've gotten lots of good ideas for different styles of faces that I could start including in my art journals and collages. In the class we sometimes draw/paint faces from live models, sometimes draw/paint them while looking at a picture and sometimes draw/paint from our imagination.  I'm not sure I have a preference yet. If you draw, paint or sketch, do you have a preference?

How Portrait Photography Helps My Drawing

The scariest assignment so far in the faces class I'm taking has been this one because we're supposed to draw realistic faces. Which means there's a high degree of opportunity to fail. I'm pretty happy with these two portraits. Are they perfect? No. But, if you asked me last week if you thought I could draw anything this good, I would have said, "Heck no!" So, I'm pleased with my efforts.  The portrait on the left is based on my mother-in-law's bridal portrait.  The one on the right is based on this photographic portrait I took of a local activist:

It's my favorite of the two. I think that having spent time on improving my portrait photography is helping my attempts to draw faces. When photographing portraits, the key is to find enough light to have catchlights in the eyes and to have a natural expression.  I think the same thing is true in drawn faces.  I try to put "catchlights" in the eyes, and I have found that using a model with a good expression really helps me draw a more expressive face. 
It's a happy coincidence that my efforts to improve in one art form have delivered dividends in another one. Has this every happened to you?