Hi all, as I mentioned in my previous post I have been sticking my fingers in a lot of pies lately and have been working on all kinds of fun and interesting things. I must say, that even though I have been looking at people's art journals for ages and in particular Julie Balzers blog, I never really got it till now! Lately, I thought I would give it a go and have been having so much fun. I only have two complete pages so far (pictures to come in a later post) but today I am writing about me first real drawing!!! Eeeeek, I am so excited to share this with someone...anyone really.
You know the feeling when you try something you really thought you would be no good at so you head off into the big unknown with little expectations other then having fun experimenting rather than really really trying? Well that was me tonight. So far my journal has really only consisted of a bit of experimentation with backgrounds, colours and wording and a kind of a play on the whole SMASH book thing but with my own handmade backgrounds really, but I have long admired those beautiful art journal pages with the hand drawn and painted images of pretty girls with their hair blowing in the wind....GORGEOUS!! Well this afternoon, as I sat down to watch the "Ellen" show to begin unwinding after a long week hahaha, I decided that I would give this whole drawing thing a go.
In the past I have note that I had some basic drawing ability, but believe me nothing that would have me jumping to the rooftops and shouting "I can draw, I can draw". That being the case however basic drawing is one thing, but drawing a face which one would considered to be cute rather than some nightmarish thing that could only be described as a poor attempt of Picasso's Weeping Woman was going to be a challenge for me. This my friends was challenge enough but to actually add colour by way of paint was likely to be a total impossibility. Besides the feeble attempts of painting in High School, the painting of walls in a number of renovations I have not really undertaken any other painting activities. I was surprised however, to discover that some of those useful layering and shadowing techniques that you pick up in using copics could be somewhat applied and in the end I am absolutely tickled pink with my result. I never in a million years could have imagined that I would be able to pull off the little piece of art that I did and am totally chuffed!! Of course she is in no way perfect, her eyes are mismatched, her nose a bit weird and of course the poor little thing is just some floating head with no body to speak of because THAT was just going to be even more of a challenge than I was prepared to bargain for but all that aside, she is rather cute.
Before I share my little creation, I should apologise that the photo is not that great since she had only just been sealed (since she is going to be layered into my art journal) and as such there is a bit too much gleam on the picture. Unfortunately, I am not the worlds best photographer either and despite having an automatic camera I think I have accidentally changed on of the settings on my camera because it just does not seem to take the same kind of quality photo's as it used to but I do not have the foggiest idea on how to fix it. Something else to learn in time....its seriously never ending!! Anywhoooo......here she is!
Ok so maybe her eyes are quite mismatched but nothing is going to take away from how not so secretly pleased I am with the result. Unfortunately the background pages she is going on are only in their early stages on account on having to wait for them to dry more thoroughly, however, I look forward to sharing my progress with you as the page develops, since I have no idea what I am going to do yet.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share my joy in my little accomplishment with you, I really appreciate at least being able to share it with someone even if this post just disappears into cyberspace. Should anyone however actually read this post, I would be so interested in hearing about your art journalling stories or to share in your work, so please leave me a message letting me know where I can find you as I have so much to learn.
I should say that for anyone looking to perhaps starting an art journal or even interested in scrapbooking and papercraft in general you really should check out Julie's blog which provides so much inspiration and great tips for those starting out. A good place to start is here. I hope that anyone who decides to undertake this venture finds as much joy in it as I currently am.
Until next time, happy crafting!!
Hugs,
Tash Daly
