#5 in Expression Series is Finished

This is the finished piece: #5 in my series of faces that I call "Expressions". This is a mixed media process of drawing, inking and coloring with Prisma Pencils and water color. If you read the post below it goes into the process a little more in detail. I thought this was going to be the last in this series...but!...I have already started #6..so I guess there will be one more...

This is a close up section of #5...

#5 in Expression Series

This is the completed drawing and the beginning of the inking process...not sure why it is turned vertically...but sometimes Blogger has a mind of its own????? This is the finished drawing and it has been completely inked. I have started the coloring process with Prisma Pencils.

Not quite finished with the face but I was really excited to start the water coloring so I will go back and finish the face when I get the watercolor part done...this is the first in the series to have watercolor on it. These seem to be getting more and more detailed and complicated...not sure why but I guess it doesn't matter. You know I was thinking that I have always loved to color in coloring books...now I just draw and ink my own drawings and color them...hummmm?

I really like the "bubbles" I got some new pan watercolors that have glitter in the paint, so I used it to color the bubbles...I don't think you can tell in the photograph...but it is really cool. I am wondering if the glitter will still show once the piece is matted and framed with glass...If you click on the pics you can see them really big and get a better idea of the detail. This piece is 28"x30" on Strathmore 180# watercolor paper.

This is a close up...so you can see the bubbles and the flowers.

Exquisite Corpse Collaborative Published

Just found out that the "Exquisite Corpse" a book collaborative that I worked on with 10 other artists has been published in this September/October issue of Somerset Studio Magazine. One of the things that was so awesome about this collaborative project is that I made some life long friends while working on the book. There are some pages below that explain what "The Exquisite Corpse" is all about. This is one of my pages...I used a "self portrait" of Vincent VanGogh which was only chest high and then using prisma pencils I complete the form, and added the brushes and the paint palette.

This is my second page...It is an original watercolor of a "Clown".

This is the explanation of the Exquisite Corpse that I got from Wikipedia. I did the words and Christy Sobolewsky did the digital back ground and Ingrid Dijkers did the page background. If you click on it and blow it up you will be able to read the definition. You can reach Ingrid's web site by clicking on her name in the right hand column.

This is the inside cover page...it has all of the artist's names and addresses on it.

This is the cover....done by Ingrid Dykers...Ingrid did all of the binding and organizing of the book...There were 2 extra books made, just in case something happened to a book when they were returned. Some of the artists live in Germany, Australia and all over the US so we wanted to make sure everyone got a copy of the book.

This is a pic of the book when it was finished. The whole process took us months and was very tedious because every page had to fit perfect for the book to come out right. It wasn't a matter of being able to trim or adjust the pages when it was time for Ingrid to put them together.

Some of the artist used clip art, some used original digital images, some did original drawings and some used original watercolors. So each page is very unique and expresses the style of each artist.

It really is an incredible work of art.

Since we were lucky enough for nothing to have gone wrong and all of the artist received their own books, the extra books are going to be auctioned off over on Ingrid Dykers web site. So if you would like to see the rest of the book and join in the auction please just click on Ingrid Dykers above and it will take you to her web site.

This is all so very exciting and I can't wait to talk to the other artists...WOWZZZZZZZEEEEEE!

Finished #4 in the "Expressions" Series

This is the finished piece in my series of "Expressions".

I did a little something different in this piece...I used Gel Pens to color her jewelry...like the head piece and the earring...I really like it because it gave it a metalic shine...not sure how it will look once it is matted and framed behind glass. We will see if the shine still shows????

I really enjoy making the "Fairy Wings" because no one can ever say I never saw "wings" like that...lol

Expressions Series #4 The drawing & Coloring

These are some of the steps in the creation of Expressions #4...of course you know how it is? I get into the process of drawing, inking and then the coloring and I forget to take pics. I tried to record the process...but sometimes I forget even though I have my camera right beside me. Oh well I think I did better on this one than I have the others, so maybe you can get the gist of my progress. First I do the drawing...and I even remembered to leave a boarder this time...it makes it so much easier to mat and frame if the finished piece has a boarder of 1" to 1 1/2"...I usually just use the width of the yard stick which is a little over an inch...I started with a piece of Strathmore drawing paper that is 18"x24"...that seems to be the size that I find the most comfortable to work on...or maybe it is comfortable because that was the size I had handy when I started...lol..
you know "roll with the flow" and what ever is handy...lol

A little more drawing...

Once the drawing is completed then I begin the inking process...I used an extra fine Sharpie permanent marker...this process takes almost as long as the drawing...because I seem to make it so complicated and have to really watch to not cross over any lines...unlike pencil there is no erasing errors at this point.

Now comes my favorite part...the coloring...this is when I think about being a little girl again and coloring in the multitude of coloring books that I colored when I was young. I use Prisma Pencils,

my all time favorite colored pencils.

The red poppies in the right hand corner are from a picture taken by my good friend Dawn Gold,

from the UK...she took the pic one day while walking her dog. The pic was awesome and she gave me permission to use the image as a reference for my drawing. I like to us photos as reference material for my flower drawings. Most of the other images that are in the drawing are from my head. Sometimes I use magazine pics of girls to achieve different expressions and skin tones...but most of the ribbons, butterflies and of course the wild hair are just my imagination. And yes I do thank the "Big Guy" for my imagination. My mother says I was born with this imagination and she even has some drawings I did when I was 3 yrs old...I used to wonder why mothers save stuff like that until I had children and grand children of my own. LOL

Some more coloring...I decided to make this a little risque...lol.

Don't forget to click on the pics to make them bigger if you want to see the details. :)

Here is the #1 Drawing in the series

This is #1 in the series of drawings of girls with lots of hair...lol...the series is called "EXPRESSIONS"...several people said they didn't see #1 so I decided to repost it before I post #4 (which I just finished last night).

This piece is 24"x30"...it is a mixed media (pencil/ink/Prisma Pencil).

#3 in the Mixed Media Drawings

This is #3 in a series of mixed media drawings that I have completed. It is 18"x24". First I draw in pencil and then I ink the drawing with an extra fine point permanent marker, then I erase the whole thing and color in the parts that I want to be in color using Prisma Pencils. I like leaving the "Hair" in black and white with all of the embellishments in color. The drawings usual take be about 3 to 4 days. I started this one while we were in Santa Fe, NM. Then the inking takes about 8 to 10 hours. After inking I erase the entire drawing to remove the pencil marks, I don't like for the pencil marks to interfer with the Prisma Colors...because it tends to make the colors blurry or darker. Taking this one to be framed and am starting #4...It seems I am on a drawing "kick" never know how long it (the "kick" lol) will last...but I have a lot of fun while it does last...:)