Faces #28 and #29 of '29 Faces' -- WIP, But Challenge Completed!

WIP Art Journal Entry, as based on the story, 'Babette's Feast'

My Faces #28 and #29 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge.  Yay, I did it -- another whole month of Faces.....!

The above is my WIP guest art journal entry, as per my Student Art Journal Project.   I began this earlier in the month as a two-page horizontal spread as inspired by the story, 'Babette's Feast', but had only gotten as far as the portrait of Babette, on the left.  I have now included her two employers, an elderly pair of sisters, Martine and Philippa, on the right.  Martine and Philippa are Danish spinsters who are surprised to find the Frenchwoman, Babette, arrive on their doorstep one night.  A refugee from the French revolution, Babette seeks safe harbor.  The sisters, who live in simplicity in a remote village, are at first reluctant to take on a domestic servant, especially a stranger.  And yet over the years they grow to depend on Babette, while never asking questions about her mysterious past.  After many years they discover Babette's secret, that she is a chef of rare talent, when she uses her winnings in a lottery to put on a full-on French repast the likes of which the staid and conservative villagers have never before seen.  Here we see the sisters as they wait with some worry and trepidation about what they have agreed to accept -- just what exactly will this feast that Babette wishes to present to them entail....?  (I plan to add more detail later, so as of yet it's still a WIP -- but I'm posting it as is for now).....

Faces #26 and #27 of the Challenge: A Guest Art Journal Entry inspired by the book, 'A Passage to India'.....

Guest Art Journal Entry, as based on the book, 'A Passage to India'....

My Faces #26 and #27 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge.  Almost there...!

As per my Student Art Journal Project, we have here the finished  journal entry that I began earlier this month, that was inspired by the book, 'A Passage to India'.  In the book, the character 'Adela', a young Englishwoman, travels to India during the era of British colonization, in order to visit her potential fiance who is working as an officer in the British government there.  Excited by the trip and itching to explore, she is disappointed to discover upon her arrival that most of her time is expected to be spent with her fellow English ex-pats within the confines of the little piece of England-within-India they have managed to recreate for themselves in their segregated compound, and which she finds terribly boring and dull.  She longs to see the 'real India', so she says.  A lawn party is arranged between the British ex-pats and some of the higher-up Indian officials and their wives -- but despite her efforts to be friendly she finds the cultural and social gap remains uncomfortably and awkwardly wide.  And yet Adela continues to lament her lack of 'adventure'.  That is, until she finally does get her much requested 'Indian adventure', only to have it all go really rather badly (to put it mildly).  Guess one needs to be careful about what one wishes for.....!

Faces #24 and #25 of 29 Faces: Another Guest Art Journal Entry Based on 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.....

Guest art journal entry, "Calpurnia and Scout", as inspired by the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird"

Today is the 29th of May.  As such, we are already at the end of the '29 Faces' May Challenge!  I am reeling to think of how quickly the month flew by.  Still, despite all the busy-ness, I am happy to report that I have mostly kept up with the challenge -- if not daily, at least in 'chunks'.  I will be posting the last of my 29 Faces tonight, and declaring my end of the Challenge officially at a close. 

And so above we have my Faces #24 and #25, as painted in another one of my student's art journals, as per my Student Art Journal Project.  For this student I painted a two page horizontal spread, my second guest entry based on the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird' (my first one for a different student was here)....

As I've mentioned before, "To Kill a Mockingbird" has to be one of my favorite books ever. Of the things that have always attracted me to the story, in addition to its absorbing plot, are its rich characters.  Among these include the youthful main protagonist, Jean Louise Finch, also known as 'Scout, and Calpurnia, her father's hired African American housekeeper (a la, 'The Help').  Her own mother having died when she was very young, Scout's primary mother figure is Calpurnia, known affectionately as 'Cal' to Scout and her brother, Jem.  Being raised by a sensitive and loving yet somewhat distracted single father, Calpurnia provides much guidance, discipline and authority to the children.  She does punish when she feels she has to, such as the time Jem invites an underprivileged classmate of Scout's home for lunch.  When Scout audibly expresses her disgust at this boy, who, in his enthusiasm at being presented a jar of syrup at the table, an apparently rare and delicious treat for him, proceeds to pour it all over his plate of food, Calpurnia gives Scout the the sound scolding she ddeserves  for having been rude to her guest.  And yet there is a very strong and lasting bond between the two.....

Nibblefest Art Contest Entry: "Air", A Painting entilted "Wash Day" (And My #22 & #23 Faces of the '29 Faces' Challenge)....

Nibblefest Art Contest:  3.5 x 8 painting: 'Wash Day".....

The fourth of my four Nibblefest Art Contest entries, the theme for May being 'The Elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air"

(click for auction link)

We have here a painting entitled, "Faith in a Seed" and my entry for "Air".  It also happens to be my Faces #22 and #23 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge.   (YESSSSS!!!  I am officially caught up!!!  Only 6 more Faces to go!)

The following is my auction description:

".....One of four entries by me for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC) (~the theme for May being "The Elements:  Fire, Water, Earth and Air") is an original acrylic painting of vellum, mounted permanently onto a 3.5" by 8" reclaimed wooden board (3/4 " thick).  'Wash Day' is signed and ready to hang (not the original is sharper and more colorful that appears in this flat scan).  This is a 5 Day auction.

This month's Nibblefest theme, 'The Elements', was quite different than usual.  Being as that there are four classical elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air), we were allowed to enter a total of four pieces rather than the usual limit of three, provided that each pertained to a separate element.  This is my entry for 'Air'.

We don't own a working dryer.  By choice.  Years ago, when the heating element of our old, second hand dryer burned out, we just never bothered to get it fixed, or replaced.  I didn't use it that often anyway, preferring as I always have an old-fashioned clothesline.  Air drying clothes saves money and energy, besides the fact that you just can't beat that fresh, air-dried smell.  And so we have here a busy Mama and her little helper, on 'Wash Day' (unfortunately my own 'little helper' isn't nearly this cheerful when it comes to our clothesline.  She wants our dryer back.....!)

Nibblefest Art Contest entry, for 'Water': a painting called "Faith in a Seed" (Plus my #20 and #21 Faces of the '29 Faces' Challenge)

NIbblefest Art Contest: 3.5 x 8 painting, "Faith in a Seed"

The third of my four Nibblefest Art Contest entries, the theme for May being 'The Elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air"

(click for auction link)

This is a painting entitled, "Faith in a Seed",  and my entry for "Earth".  It also happens to be my Faces #20 and #21 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge.

The following is my auction description:

"Faith in a Seed"**

".....One of four entries by me for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC) (~the theme for May being "The Elements:  Fire, Water, Earth and Air") is an original acrylic painting of vellum, mounted permanently onto a 3.5" by 8" reclaimed wooden board (3/4 " thick).  'Faith in a Seed' is signed and ready to hang (not the original is sharper and more colorful that appears in this flat scan).  This is a 5 Day auction.

This month's Nibblefest theme, 'The Elements', was quite different than usual.  Being as that there are four classical elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air), we were allowed to enter a total of four pieces rather than the usual limit of three, provided that each pertained to a separate element.  This is my entry for 'Earth'.

I am a gardener, from a long line of gardeners.  Flowers, veggies, herbs, houseplants -- I can't say I'm the best at it, but digging in the dirt has been a source of enjoyment and satisfaction for me for much of my life.  Over the years I've tried to lovingly instill a passion for gardening within my own children (the planting of 'seeds', both literal and figurative), as my parents did with me .  Time will tell to see if it actually 'sticks', but I'm hopeful...."

_________

(**Some might recognize the title from the book by Henry D. Thoreau)

 

Nibblefest Art Contest Entry AND Face #19, "Bird Bath".....

Nibblefest Art Contest: 3.5 x 8 "Bird Bath".....

My second of my four Nibblefest Art Contest entries, the theme for May being 'The Elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air"
(click for auction link).

This is a painting entitled, "Bird Bath",  and is my entry for "Water".  It also happens to be my Face #19 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge (and no, I am not counting the bird faces, though I'll admit I was mighty tempted to...!).  So yes, plenty of overlap-age here, and to come.....

The following is my auction description: 

"....Bird Bath...."

".....One of four entries by me for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC) (~the theme for May being "The Elements:  Fire, Water, Earth and Air") is an original acrylic painting of vellum, mounted permanently onto a 3.5" by 8" reclaimed wooden board (3/4 " thick).  'Bird Bath is signed and ready to hang (not the original is sharper and more colorful that appears in this flat scan).  This is a 5 Day auction. 

This month's Nibblefest theme, 'The Elements', was quite different than usual.  Being as that there are four classical elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air), we were allowed to enter a total of four pieces rather than the usual limit of three, provided that each pertained to a separate element.  This is my entry for 'Water'.

When contemplating 'Water', I happened to look outside my window to observe the bird bath in my yard.  It's always a hip-happening neighborhood spot in the Spring....." 
_________

So as mentioned in my previous post, I admit I struggled a bit with this month's theme, 'The Elements'. Ordinarily I adore working with themes, and having looked ahead and knowing this one was coming up, I had no reason to assume it would be any more challenging than any other month's theme.  In fact I at first figured it might even be easier.  However when it finally came down to the brass tacks, and I was trying to rustle up my concepts, the fact that there was sort of a "theme within a theme" thing happening here threw me off a bit.  Obviously, something like "The Elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air" was just asking for all four entries to be a cohesive 'set' in some way.  Being as that I do like to relate my subject matter to myself in personal and meaningful ways, I was having issues coming up with four interchangeable concepts that all could all somehow relate to one another.  It was easy enough to conjure up four very random ideas, which I initially did at first -- but conceptualizing the four 'separate but equal' ideas proved...a little harder.  And yet I managed -- a little late perhaps (5 Day auctions instead of 7), but hopefully not a dollar short as they say (being as that the bidding starts at just a buck, heh.....!).....

NIbblefest Art Contest: My Faces #17 & #18, "Moths to Flame"

"Moths to Flame", 3.5 x 8 painting

One of my four Nibblefest entries, entitled "Moths to Flame".....

The Nibblefest Art Contest rolls around yet again!  (Nibblefest being the fun and friendly, monthly themed art competition hosted via Ebay).  I got all hung up regarding the theme this month, indecisively puttering and plodding along, and ending up missing the official start day on the 20th.  I kept on working though, and have since been able to join the contest with 5 day auctions (thank goodness for that 2nd chance option!). The following is my "Moths to Flame" auction description:

"....This month's Nibblefest theme, 'The Elements', was quite different than usual.  Being as that there are four classical elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air), we were allowed to enter a total of four pieces rather than the usual limit of three, provided that each pertained to a separate element.  This is my entry for 'Fire'.

When contemplating 'Fire', it brought to mind my own children.  When my kids were small, they were absolutely fascinated with fire.  Camp fires, cookouts, the gas stove, birthday candles -- ALL of it attracted my children, as I used to say, 'like moths to flame'.  And they could never seem to resist 'experimenting'.  For years  I would be given nice scented candles as gifts, but never felt comfortable burning them around the house because I knew in short order my kids would show up....to huff and puff upon the flame, to poke their little fingers into the melted wax, or tilt the candle to make the wax run or the flame flicker.  It was enough to drive me bananas!  I was just afraid they might hurt themselves.  Happily nowadays they are WELL over that particular stage in life, but I will never forget those long years of my own two little "moths"....."

It's true -- my dear son especially was a little (ok, a lot!) obsessed with fire when he was a youngster.  Not in an pathologically unhealthy way necessary...., but definitely in a drive-your-mama-crazy sort of way.  Let's just say that an ordinary campfire could keep him occupied and entertained for HOURS, heh.  (And I was always so bemused and jealous when I went to friends' homes and they had their scented candles lit and glowing while their own kids remained blissfully disinterested....!)....

In any case, I did streamline things this month by overlapping '29 May Faces', with 'Elements'.  Works for me....! 

(To see the four of MY Nibblefest entries, click here.  To see ALL of the Nibblefest 'Element' entries as entered this month, click here.  Nibblefest Art Contest: fine art starting at just .99 cents!)...

State of the Challenge: A Pile of Projects....

Faces in Progress

When I signed on to participate in the '29 Faces' May Challenge this month, I figured it had the potential to be dicey because I knew full well May was going to be a busy one.  And... I was right!  Community bike rides, back-to-back graduation parties, activities, never ending spring yard work and garden set up.  The month is FLYING by, and somehow I've managed to fall behind in the posting of my Faces yet again.  But oh well, it's not as though it's a competition in any way, and there are no 'rules'.  I just figure as long as I have all my 29 Faces painted and posted in some shape or form by the end of the month it will all  'count'....

The last time I blogged regarding the Challenge, I was on Face #16.  Today is the 22nd, so that's technically 5 Faces behind.  The photo above displays all kinds of Faces I currently have in progress (for a total of 12 to be exact) so happily I'm not behind in the painting of my Faces, only in the posting of my Faces.  Therefore when I blog later again today with some of my Nibblefest Art Contest entries (it officially began on the 20th, but thank goodness for 5-day auctions...!) I'll once again be all caught up (if not even a little ahead)....

Face #16 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge:

Art Journal Entry:  Mixed Media inspired by 'Great Expectations':  Pip and Miss Haversham

For my Face for Day 16 of the '29 Faces' Challenge, I am featuring here my completed tribute, as painted in my art student's art journal, to Charles Dickens' famous story, 'Great Expectations'.....

When I uploaded this previously, I had the portrait of Pip sorted out, but still had not made up my mind as to whether the female was the character of 'Miss Haversham', or that of her adopted daughter, 'Estella'.   Well, as anyone familiar with the story should be able to make out by now, 'Miss Haversham' turned out the victor....

Poor Pip.  An orphan raised in poverty by his abusive older sister, he falls under the influence of the neurotic but wealthy spinster, Miss Haversham.  Jilted by her fiance on her wedding day many years earlier, Miss Haversham never got over the trauma of being abandoned at the alter.  An eccentric recluse who refuses to wear anything other than her ancient, lacy wedding dress (or indeed to even clean up the decades-old, mouse-riddled remains of her uneaten wedding feast), Miss Haversham plots to get her revenge against all men by meticulously raising her beautiful adopted daughter, Estella, to become a reptilian-hearted man-hater.  Her evil grooming works.  Sadly, the befuddled Pip falls hopelessly in love with Estella, but goes on to have his heart pulverized when he realizes both  that (#1) Miss Haversham is NOT behind the anonymous funds he receives from a mysterious benefactor, as he had initially assumed (and she had allowed him to believe), and (#2) that Estella can't and will never return his affections.  Ouch!  Poor, poor Pip...!

And so I tried to portray the characters here by expression -- plus as you can see I had lots of fun with the mixed media (lots and lots of lace!)....

Face #15 for the '29 Faces' May Challenge: Another Art Journal Entry

Art Journal Entry: "Owlie"

My Face Number 15 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge (never mind that it is actually Day 17!  I'll get caught up by the end of the day, hopefully).....

Here we have another guest art journal entry, as per my personal project of creating a piece of art in the art journals of my students.   This particular piece was for a the journal of a 10 or 11 year old girl, and was just really painted all in good fun.  In seeking out something that could connect me personally with this student, I recalled one of her previous projects earlier in the year when I introduced the art of papier mache to the kids.  She had sculpted a cute little bird in a cartoony, caricature-like style.  I decided to follow her lead and create in her journal a funny little anthropomorphic bird of my own.  Meet "Owlie".....

Face #14 of the '29 Faces' Challenge -- Art Journal Entry Based on '1984': Finished!

Student Art Journal Guest Entry, as Inspired by the book, 1984

#14 Face for the '29 Faces' May Challenge (still catching up from recent computer issues!)......

For Face Number 14 we are revisiting my "1984" art journal guest entry once again ("1984" by George Orwell being a book that was read and very much liked by this student, as part of my literature class).  The first time I featured this page was back on Day 9, when I uploaded my work in progress at the time, the beginnings of a portrait of Winston Smith, the fellow on the right and main protagonist of the book.  Then it was featured again, for Face # 10, upon starting the portrait of 'Julia' (on the left),  political rebel and Winston's love interest.  Finally, we have the Face in the middle, my 14th.... featuring the icon known universally as 'Big Brother' within the repressive totalitarian society in which Winston and Julia live.  'Big Brother' is their dictatorial leader, all encompassing -- in fact one of the most prevalent party slogans that is constantly jammed down their throats is that "Big Brother is watching YOU....".  Nice, eh?

'Big Brother' appears here upon what's known in the book as a 'Telescreen', which, in the vaguely futuristic era in which they live, is sort of a combination of television and Skype.  The Telescreens are set up everywhere for citizens to receive non-stop political messages from the government, while they in turn are themselves watched and overheard via these ever-present monitors.  Everyone's behavior is being constantly observed, and noted.  There is no such thing as privacy, and no one is safe.

This last portrait was challenging to paint, only because of how I composed this two-page horizontal spread -- in that the fold of the book was EXACTLY smack in the middle of 'Big Brother's' face (oops!).  Made things sort of tricky mechanically -- but still, I think it somehow works.....

My progress pics:

Winston Smith, in progress....

Winston and Julia, in progress....

Face #13 of '29 Faces': A Mixed Media Art Journal Entry, Featuring 'Scheherazod'....

Face #13: A Guest Art Journal Entry for a student, featuring the heroine of 1001 Nights, the creatively intrepid 'Scheherazod'....

My Face #13 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge (though it is officially Day 16 -- just catching up here on my posting after falling behind thanks to computer dysfunctions)....

Continuing along regarding my project of creating guest entries in the art journals of my students, we have here a two-page, vertical spread featuring a colorful mixed media piece.  For this particular student, a middle school-aged girl who happens to be a hijab-wearing Muslim, I wanted to be sure to paint something for her that would be both respectful and culturally sensitive.  Being as that she and her mother were both taken with a Rock Person I once painted as an entry for an EBSQ exhibit, the theme of which was '1001 Nights', an idea popped into my head.  I had entered a little portrait of the famous "Scheherazod", painted on a wee rock that had been sitting about my studio for years (which went on to receive 'Patron's Mention' in the show) -- and later brought to art class to show my students.  Remembering what a hit it was with this particular student and her family, I decided to create a vibrant, mixed media art journal entry for her based on my little rock portrait....

My 'Scheherazod' painted rock:

Scheherazod, Wee Painted Rock Person

My 'Scheherazod' mixed media art journal portrait:

Scheherazod, art journal tribute portrait, her eyes lighting up as she spins yet another entertainingly complex tale....

I had a lot of fun with this one, adding as I did scraps of silver foil to her scarf in order to approximate the silver painted design that I used on my original painted rock:

Scheherazod's Back

(Too see more posts regarding my painted Rock People, click here....). 

Face #12 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge: Guest Art Journal Entry, "To Kill A Mocking Bird"

My guest entry in my student's Art Journal, as based on the classic book, "To Kill A Mockingbird"....

Day 15 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge, but thanks to aforementioned technical difficulties I am behind in my posting.  I will be posting double time to catch up, starting with this entry......

What a relief to once again have a functioning computer!  Since my previous computer's cooling element decided to fizzle out, it was rendered pretty much unusable -- however, thanks to my IT professional spouse, and some shuffling around of the family computers, I now have a 'new' (well, to me anyway) laptop all properly set up again for my personal use.  It is different from my other one though, with little things in different places, and all matter of small stuff to re-learn and get used to -- when the truth of the matter is, I hate change....!  But oh well, just a matter of sorting it all  out -- I'm simply grateful we are lucky enough to have several of these around the house to commandeer when the need arises.  Now, I only just need to catch up on all things internet.

As such, I am posting here my Face for Day 12 of the Challenge (even though it's officially Day 15).  As I've written about in previous posts,  I initiated a long-term project with my art students, whereby we made homemade, DIY art journals, and worked in them throughout the year.  This past week I embarked on a project to create a guest entry into each one of my students' journals -- and so we have here a two-page vertical spread I painted for a student for whom I read aloud the first chapter of "To Kill A Mockingbird" when I was subbing for another instructor during his literature class.  A great American classic, "To Kill A Mockingbird" has to be one of my all time favorite tales.  I can still clearly remember first reading it myself when I was about his age, and so I felt the short time I spent with his class enough of a connection to do for him a piece inspired by the story.  

As anyone who has read the book may recognize, here we have the scene where Scout and her brother, Jem, have been discovering small trinkets and curios in the knothole of a tree  near  their house -- funny little 'gifts' apparently left there for them by some anonymous source.  One day they are surprised to find wee hand-carved, primitive figurines left in the knot-hole, a male and a female, complete with distinguishing features and details for which they can come to but one conclusion:  the little figures represent themselves.

Technical Difficulties.....!!!!

Ay Carumba.  For the past several days I have been having computer issues.  The cooling element has gone out in the computer I use, and now my it runs so hot that within minutes of firing it up it threatens to do all sorts of weird things.  Like die....

The good news is that I that I am still diligently painting Faces and keeping up with the challenge -- I just need to be able to have the opportunity to catch up with my posting.  My IT professional spouse is on the job of helping me sort this out.  So while it's bad timing to have this happen in the middle of my Challenge here, it should be resolved soon...!

Day 11 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge: 'New Moon', 5 x 5 Acrylic Painting

"New Moon":  a 5 x 5 Acrylic painting on re-purposed wooden Board....

Day 11 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge.  18 more Faces to go.....

I was looking forward tonight to what I was expecting to be a quiet evening here at home -- hanging out in the studio, catching up on all my various painting pursuits (in particular my Student Art Journal Project, which I still have TONS to work on before they are to be finished by Tuesday!), perhaps even getting back to some much-neglected email correspondence.  Only I ended up instead spending the better part of this evening tracking down unauthorized usages of a couple of my art images.  So much for my plans!  But oh well -- these things come up all the time and have to be addressed, besides just being part and parcel of the managing of one's own art business.  Unfortunately it did mean though that I did NOT get around to painting as I'd hoped to though.  Happily however, I still have a 'new' Face up my sleeve -- one that I've been hoarding precisely for such emergencies.  And so we have here the companion piece to the painting I posted as my Face for Day 3 of the Challenge, my portrait of the Sun   -- a painting that, like my Sun portrait, I had created late last month, but never had the opportunity to officially blog about yet (until now!).....
 

As mentioned in that previous post, I entered two small works in late April to a local art show, whereby all the art submitted was 5 x 5 in size, and pertained to the theme "What You Love".   It was a lovely spring day the morning I set out to create my entries, and, having decided to paint the Sun as one of my beloved 'things', of course I then also simply HAD to paint a Moon. These things go hand in hand as far as I'm concerned....!

Here they are as a happily anthropomorphic, celestial set:

The Moon and the Sun, two 5 x 5 Paintings for the local 'What I love"-Themed Art Show

Day 10 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge: WIP Art Journal Entry, 'Julia' from "1984"...

WIP: Progress on the '1984' Student Art Journal Guest Entry

Day 10 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge.  19 more faces to go.....

Amazing-- with this post we are officially a third of the way through the Challenge....!

Tonight I continued my progress on the guest entry I started last night for my student's art journal as inspired by the book, "1984".   While last night's Face was Winston Smith's portrait on the right, my Face for today is the portrait I've started on the left, of the other main character of the story, the young-but-wizened, conniving 'Julia'....

Despite his deep doubts and rebellious nature, Winston Smith has spent his adult life passing as a cooperative and committed governmental Party member.  His life depends on his convincingly pretending to be just another non-thinking cog in the wheel of the bleak and soul-crushing society into which he was born.   He has noticed a young woman around and about, the beautiful Julia.  Attracted to her physically, he is none-the-less utterly disgusted by her apparent complete and total commitment to the Party. Even worse, he begins to fear her, when, thinking she may be spy and following him, he plots upon how he might kill her in order to save himself.  That is before he learns  the surprising truth....that despite all outward appearances, he and Julia are actually of like mind, with her act of pure orthodoxy to Party doctrine only a ruse meant to deflect suspicion of a rebellious streak just as deep as his own.   Winston and Julia embark on a near impossible and certainly doomed romance, pledging their love for one another as they, in supreme secrecy, try to navigate  the dangers that the discovery of such an illicit affair would surely bring upon themselves.  Even a stolen glance at each other could be noticed, and duly noted....  In any case I am trying to portray all this complicated emotional storyline into my tribute piece  (and yes, for anyone familiar with the book, indeed that IS the beginnings of a 'Telescreen' behind them...!)....

Day 9 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge: WIP: An Art Journal Entry Inspired by the Book, "1984"

WIP: Another Guest Art Journal Entry Inspired by George Orwell's '1984'....

Day 9 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge.  20 more Faces to go....

Yep, you guessed it.  Another student art journal entry.  As of tonight, I have by now begun entries in exactly half of my students' journals.  However, I still have 5 more to go to even start something in -- and in fact NONE of them can be declared officially finished yet at this point, being as that they are ALL still Works in Progress.   But, I'm getting there....!

Selecting from my literature class book list to use as inspiration for this journal wasn't the easiest -- because this is actually the last student for whom the list applies (all the remaining art journals are from a different class of younger students who did not read the same books).  But finally I'd narrowed it down to three titles:  George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" (I could just imagine Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins), Steinbecks' "Of Mice and Men", and "1984".  I did recall that this student seemed in particular to enjoy the book, '1984', and our discussions of it -- and so it won out.  As such, we have here as my Day 9 Face a quickie start on a portrait of the story's protagonist, the much depressed and desperate Winston Smith.  Winston's existence is not an easy one, living (if it can be called that) as he does in some utterly grim dystopian future state, under an entirely soul-crushing totalitarian rule.  And yet at its heart is a love story..... 

While I can't say I'm entirely satisfied with this fast, preliminary portrait of Winston here, I'm reminding myself it's still only a WIP -- and besides, it'll do for now in order to at least get this entry posted so I can call it a day.   But when I get back to working on it in soon however, I'm thinking I will need to make 'my' Winston look considerably older, and a whole lot less attractive..... 

Day 8 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge: WIP Art Journal Entry inspired by 'Lord of the Rings'....

A WIP of my art journal entry for my student who loves fantasy fiction: A portrait of Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings...

Day 8 of the '29 Faces' of May Challenge.  21 more faces to go.....

Today's Face features another guest entry by me for the art journal of a student, as per my Student Art Journal Project (I have 10 youth for whom I'm doing this  (nearly 1/3 of the Faces right there!), so still PLENTY more art journal entries from me to come....).  

Unlike his classmates, this art journal's owner hasn't participated in my literature class, so the book list  from which I'm drawing inspiration for my other highschoolers didn't really apply to him.  I still wished to do something literary for his entry however, and so, being as that I know he is a huge fan of fantasy genre, I decided to do a journal piece inspired by that most classic of fantasy epics, J. R. Tolkien's, 'The Lord of the Rings'.  Therefore as such, we have here a work in progress portrait that I began...of...(deep breath!) the ranger/future king, Aragorn (son of Arathorn) deep in thought and reflection as he contemplates the considerable tasks ahead of him upon having been presented the powerful sword, "Anduril", reforged from the broken shards of the legendary "Narsil", the blade of the line of Elendil, which was known for having previously defeated the dread evil sorcerer, Sauron, the wannabe Lord of the Ring.... (or something like that anyway, as much as I enjoyed it I confess it's been an age since I've read the book!).    In any case, still lots more to work on here before I declare him finished -- but I'm determined to get to bed at a more reasonable time tonight if it kills me (because NOT getting a decent amount of sleep tonight (finally) probably will!), and so this is where I'm leaving off for the time being until I can get back to it....

I did show my students my progress in their journals today in class, and they seemed pretty enthused and appreciative of my efforts.  Here's to getting all ten of the student art journals wrapped up and completed by this time next week....!

Day 7 of the '29 faces' May Challenge -- WIP: A Portrait of Pip from 'Great Expectations'....

My guest art journal entry:  WIP inspired by the book, 'Great Expectations'

Day 7 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge.  22 more Faces to go....

Seriously, Day 7 -- we've been at this a week already...??

For today's Face, continuing on with my Student Art Journal Project, whereby I am painting guest entries into the art journals of my private students, as inspired by books we have read and discussed in class, I revisited the  journal entry I posted back on Day 5.  Using the classic novel by Charles Dickens, 'Great Expectations', as inspiration, I had first began a portrait of a female -- while flip-flopping as to whether I was actually painting the haughty and proud 'Estella', or the neurotically demented, man-scorning 'Miss Haversham'.  Well, truth be told, I still haven't definitively  settled  that score yet (though I think at this point I'm leaning toward Miss Haversham...?) .  However, I was and am 100 percent certain about portraying the poor, haplessly mistreated 'Pip' on the opposite side of the two page art journal spread, and so I was able to paint full steam ahead tonight as far as he was concerned.  Still plenty more I want to add to complete this journal entry, like some wording perhaps (as well as put the final touches on Estella/Miss Haversham, etc) -- so for now it continues to remain a Work in Progress.  But I shall be needing to get ALL of my students' journals finished and returned by next week, so I will really need to focus my time and attention here in the coming days....

What my journal entry looked like earlier this evening before adding 'Pip'....

Day 6 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge: WIP, The "Frida Portrait Challenge"....

5 X 5 Tribute Frida Portrait for the Gritty Jane Frida Challenge

Day 6 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge.  Only 23 more Faces to go....

This was one busy weekend for me!  The kind of weekend that could really have used a weekend of its very own just to recover from it.  With as much running around as I had on my end, my Face for Day 6 is a Work in Progress that I didn't get terribly far along with, being as that I can barely type coherently right now and am more than ready to call it a day.  But happily WIP's are acceptable additions to the '29 Faces' Challenge, if that's what ya got....  Because that's all I got!  But, at least I did get a start....

If you can make it out, mine is to be a portrait of Frida K., because I was excited to learn today that the lovely artist known on the internets as "Gritty Jane" has herself launched a May art challenge, via her Facebook profile, which she is calling the "Frida Kahlo Challenge".  She has challenged artists to create a Frida-inspired piece for May, which she will post once finished to a designated album on her Facebook profile.  Simple enough -- it's non-competitive, all just for fun as these things usually are.  The one and only caveat is this: it must be a brand spankin' new piece, created expressly for her Challenge (because don't we all have some Frida-inspired pieces lying around ;-).  Here, too...).

I happened to have had a small 5 x 5 canvas on hand that I did not use for the local 5 x 5 art show , which I decided would be perfect for my purposes here, and so I have at least the preliminaries of a Frida Kahlo portrait sketch, along with a small bit of color  before quitting for the night. In any case, a Challenge within a Challenge -- fun times...! (for some odd reason I do get a kick out of intertwining my various online/offline artistic pursuits).  Plenty more to do on her of course before submitting her obviously -- though I have until the end of May to finish up....

Day 5 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge: WIP Art Journal Guest Entry, 'Great Expectations'....

WIP: Guest Art Journal Entry, 'Great Expectations'....

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My Face for Day 5 of the '29 Faces' in May Challenge.  24 more Faces to go....

I admit I had such lofty plans for the day today.  Anticipating a Saturday afternoon with no particular constraints or commitments, I had intentions of getting ALL kinds of things done around here -- from journals to house cleaning, laundry and yard work.  Instead however, my participation in a near-20 mile community bike ride (in the heat) this morning, while I had a fabulous time and fully enjoyed the exercise and  camaraderie, ended up rendering me pretty much useless for the remainder of the day.  Oops!  Oh well....!   

Still, I did manage to finally get around tonight to fiddling a bit with the painting of a guest entry  in yet another of my students' art journals (as per my Student Art Journal Project as written about in my previous posts) -- with this one based upon the classic book, 'Great Expectations', by the ever beloved Charles Dickens. I didn't get terribly far with it -- as you can see I've really only generally  blocked things out, with quite a bit still left to do.  Not least of which is deciding exactly who it is I am actually painting here, since I keep going back an forth as to whether to make this a portrait of  'Estella', or 'Miss Havisham (with poor abused Pip to be on the right side -- you can barely make out my preliminary sketch of him there).   But it is indeed very late right now, with my eyes crossing on me from the fatigue....and so I'm going to post this as is, hit the sack, and get back to this one again hopefully very soon....

Day 4 of the '29 Face' May Challenge: WIP Art Journal Entry

My WIP Guest Entry in my Student's Art Journal:

Day 4 of the '29 Faces' May Challenge brings with it another student Art Journal guest entry for me.  25 more Faces to go.....

As mentioned in this post, I have a number of private art students with whom I've been leading activities in art journal making.  The kids have been working on their journals now for months (we meet once a week), creating entries for themselves, as well as guest entries in each others' journals.  It is now time for me to take my turn creating entries in my students' journals, and so I brought home with me quite a stack of them to work on.  It is my intention to create these guest journal entries with FACES, drawing upon the books we've been reading as a class as inspiration, so as to have images that I can count towards the '29 Faces' Challenge. 

One of the books we read in our literature class this year was "Babette's Feast" (which is also a wonderful movie that folks might actually be more familiar with), and so I chose it as my inspiration to draw upon.   As such here we have a portrait of 'Babette', a french female chef and political refugee (the book is set before the turn of the LAST century) living with and working for two elderly, plain-and-simple, sisterly spinsters in Denmark.  The sisters are unaware of Babette's supreme talent for gourmet cuisine until she wins a lottery and ends up using the winnings to whip up a remarkably sophisticated and sumptuous feast for her astonished employers and their flock.  A lovely story -- as one can see, I still have a ways to go with this two-page journal spread, but I do at least have my Babette tribute portrait to feature as my Face for Day 4 here as I stop painting for the night....

Day 3 of '29 Faces' May Challenge: "Here Comes the Sun"

"Here Comes the Sun" (Acrylic on vellum mounted permanently to a 5 x 5 handcut wooden board)

My Face for Day 3 of the new '29 Faces' in May challenge.  26 more Faces to go....

Today's entry I admit finds me cheating ever so slightly.   It was a rushy-rush kind of day on my end (I know -- excuses, excuses), including teaching, multiple errands, a  soccer game, dinner out, and, last but not least, visiting with out-of-state relatives.  Since I do wish to sleep tonight (and desperately!)  I'm using as my Face of the Day a project I actually completed late LAST month, but hadn't managed to get around to blogging about.  Yet.

This little painting is currently hanging in a local gallery exhibit (along with its companion piece, which I will save blogging about for another mega-busy day).  The exhibit is called the "5 x 5  Show', with the theme of the show being 'What You Love" --  a very fun concept for an art exhibit.  For me, when I was preparing to paint my own two 5"x 5" show entries, and contemplating all the many and varied things that I love and might want to paint about, we were experiencing in these parts a particularly gorgeous warm and sunny spring day after a lengthy patch of gloomy chill.  I felt so grateful for the sun at that moment that I was more than happy to paint up a little ode to it.  In fact anthropomorphic celestial beings have always been long-time favourite subjects of mine -- smiling happy Suns, Moons and Stars just somehow never fail to cheer me up.....

Day 2 of '29 Faces' Challenge: WIP: Art Journal Page

Work in Progress:  A Page in my Student's Art Journal

Here we have my Face of Day 2 of the '29 Faces May' challenge (with 27 more Faces to go).   A WIP, it's the beginning of what will be a two-page spread in one of my students' art journals.  I am going to go ahead and stop for the night since it's getting late, but with the intention of continuing to make progress on it, and others, the coming days. 

As I've mentioned previously in my blog, I lead a small youth art class, as well as a literature discussion.  One of our ongoing projects for class was putting together DIY art journals, using old, discarded books.  The kids have been working on these intermittently all year, creating entries in their own journals, as well as in each others'.  Now it is my turn to come up with my own personal  entry for each of them  in their journals, here before the classes wrap up -- and so I brought them all home with me to work on this week.  Naturally it occurred to me this morning that I might streamline my Journal Project into my '29 Faces' Project, sort of making both do double duty, so to speak -- handy, yes...?   (As I've said before, I am nothing if not practical, heh....)....

In any case, what I've decided to do with my art student journal project is to create an entry for each pupil based upon a book we've all read together as part of the literature class.  One of the tomes we read this year was 'A Passage to India', by E.M. Forster -- and so for this particular student's art journal above I am creating an entry using that classic as inspiration.  In keeping with the loose style unique to art journals, I haven't really 'planned' my composition in detail -- instead just starting with the figure, a woman who is thus far draped in a blue sari.  We'll see where I take it with the rest of the piece, but am envisioning something overall colorful and rich....

Some of the other books we read this year that I can choose from as inspiration for my other students include:

Great Expectations

Pygmalion

Age of Innocence

Babette's Feast

Great Gatsby

Of Mice and Men

Summer of my German Soldier

A Raisin in the Sun

A Streetcar Named Desire

1984

Fahrenheit 451

'29 Faces May': Day 1, 'An ACEO Portrait of Julia Butterfly Hill"

My entry for the ACEO Theme Week Art Contest (click here for auction link)

The above is my official FIRST Face of '29 Faces May Challenge' (with 28 more Faces to go). It also happens to be my entry into this month's ACEO Theme Week art contest (a themed contest specifically for ACEO's (Art Cards, Editions and Originals), that begins the 1st of every month).  

The theme for this month's ACEO Theme Week is 'Butterflies'.  Well?  Knowing that I needed to come up with a face for the challenge today, plus the fact it happened to be the start of the Contest, it seemed only natural to combine the two (I think I did the same thing in the last '29 Faces' challenge).  Practical, right?  So all day (while I was out and about most of the day) I contemplated faces..., and butterflies.  I thought about Butterflies with Faces, and about Faces with Butterflies, and any manner of possible combinations.  But nothing really grabbed me...., that is until the name "Julia Butterfly Hill" popped into my head.  As you might recall, she was the famous protester that sat in a California Redwood tree for two years back in the '90's, in order to protect it from being cut down by loggers. I have visited the Giant Redwoods -- they are AMAZING.  So once that idea came to mind I knew exactly what I wanted to do -- a tribute portrait.....

The following is my entry description

"A Portrait of Julia Butterfly Hill"

 

My ACEO (2.5 x 3.5) entry for this month's ACEO Theme Week art contest (May's theme being 'Butterflies'), features a lovely tribute portrait of the famous environmental activist, Julia Butterfly Hill....

I admit I took liberties with this month's "Butterfly' theme, but it was Julia Butterfly Hill that came to mind when reflecting upon 'Butterflies'.  As a young woman in the late '90's, Julia Butterfly Hill performed an act of civil disobedience by sitting in an ancient California Redwood tree for just over 2 years, in order to protect it from loggers.  Her effort was successful, and she finally climbed down after it was formally agreed upon that the tree, which she named 'Luna', would not be logged....

The '29 Faces' in May Challenge....

Ay carumba!  Another '29 Faces' Challenge....!   

Indeed yes, we have a SECOND '29 Faces' Challenge afoot.  Can you believe that?   As you may recall I participated in the first one, back in February.  Fun times indeed -- apparently  so popular in fact that Ayala, of Ayala's Art, has decided to instigate another Faces challenge, for this, our merry month of May....!

I must be honest and say that I had to think long and hard about joining in on the fun this time around.   February was a quiet month on my end, as I expected it would be -- while I already know full well May is shaping up to be considerably busier.  And heck, not to mention the last time nearly drove me bonkers by the end of it, heh.  It's a lot of work to paint, photograph, upload, edit, and blog every single day!  And so I had to really ruminate whether I wanted to actively participate again, or perhaps just follow along this time around.    I went to bed last night pretty certain I was going to be sitting this one out....  That is until, as often happens to me, I must have worked it ALL out in my sleep, because I woke up this morning instead resolved to actually dive in, yet again (takes deep breath)....

Things shall be a little different this time around however.  As many of you may recall, my original objective for the FIRST '29 Faces' Challenge, was to  attack what I (jokingly) referred to as my 'pile of shame' -- all of my pesky unfinished projects, in various states of incompletion, for which I set out to use February's challenge as motivation to properly finish up.  Well, while there are still a few WIP hold-outs from back then that might make an appearance this month, my primary objective this time around will actually be quite different.  Instead of using May's Challenge to revisit and resurrect and finally RESOLVE a number of old projects, as I did in February, I'm going to use this month's '29 Faces' May challenge to help motivate me to BEGIN a number of NEW projects.  There are several paintings I ought to have initiated by now (I'm looking at YOU, EBSQ....), and can feel them hanging (in some cases LOOMING) over my head.   I aim to use this Challenge as impetus to sort things out in that regard.  

That being the case however, my approach will likely be a little different this time around.  In February I had a completed painting/project for nearly every single day, and I devoted myself to long and involved blog posts.  This time however, due to the nature of my objective, plus a number of time constraints this month, there will likely be far more simple sketches and WIP's as my daily 'Faces', and I expect my posts to be a little less verbose.   I'm thinking I will just have to approach it all this month overall a bit more casually perhaps than I did back in February.  We'll see...

In any case, I hope you'll check back with me to see how I get along with this new '29 Faces' May Challenge....!