My April Nibblefest Art Contest entry (theme: TREES): Meet "Owlie"

It's Nibblefest Art Contest week!   We're smack in the middle of it.

As usual Nibblefest began on the 20th.  With April's theme being 'Trees', I composed a blog post for the Nibblefest blog in order to introduce this month's theme, featuring some lovely Tree-inspired art by lots of Nibblefest Artists (including an older piece of my own).  I then entered myself on the 20th with the following:

"Owlie"  8.5 x 5 acrylic on found, old wood

 CLICK FOR AUCTION LINK

Long time readers may recall I've painted a version of 'Owlie' before, back in 2012, when I participated in the very first internet-wide  '29 Faces' Art Blog Challenge.  I was working on a project at the time by which I was painting 'guest' entries into the personal art journals of my private art students.  Just as a lark, in one of the journals I whipped up a funny-looking-yet-charismatic, anthropomorphic owl/human hybrid:

'Owlie' as I painted in my student's art journal

I recall being tickled with how he (she???) turned out, and have wanted to experiment with "Owlie" further ever since.  With a theme like this month's 'Trees', I figured I finally had my chance. 

(And be forewarned -- I'm rather partial to this wee creature, so it's probably not the last you've seen of little "Owlie")....:

:

The following is my auction description:

"Owlie" My entry for the month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC) (~the theme for April being 'TREES') is an original acrylic painting on an 8.5" x 5" found, thin segment of found wood.

Painted in acrylics and featuring a wee and mysteriously winsome nocturnal creature, tree-dwelling and perched upon a branch on a chilly, moonlit evening, "Owlie" is signed, sealed and ready to hang....

.....................

To see ALL the great 'Mushroom'-themed Nibblefest Art Contest entries this month
(with each starting at just .99 cents!),
just click here....

Day 8 of the '29 Faces' Art Challenge: More Student Work

It's the 8th Day of the '29 Faces' February 2013 Art Blog Challenge, with the first week officially behind us (and let me tell you, if the next few weeks cruise as crazy quickly as this past one did, this month will FLY by).....

If you've been following my Challenge progress, you will know I started my 29 Faces exactly a week ago with a 'face' that wasn't actually my own, but was a self portrait by my private art student's.   As of this afternoon another student finished HER self portrait that she'd been working on under my instruction for the past number of weeks, which I am very pleased and proud to share today as 'my' #8 Face:

Another beautiful self-portrait by my art student, as completed today.

As with my student's portrait from last week, this student has been patiently painting her self portrait under my guidance for the past number of weeks, taking direction/suggestions thoughtfully, and approaching her project with consideration and care.....,

Self Portraits in Progress -- laying down color

.....resulting in another really lovely and expressive work of art.....!   

Very proud of my talented and capable young students....

Another lovely 11 x 14 Student Self Portrait....!

Faces #2 and #3 of the '29 Faces' February Art Challenge

Faces #2 and #3 of the '29 Faces' February Art Blog Challenge

A guest art journal entry I painted in the 9 x 13 art journal of one of my students,
featuring Faces #2 and #3 of the Challenge

Celestial Art in general, and anthropomorphic celestial bodies in particular, has long been among my favorite subject matter.   In winter time especially, when we here in the Midwest are subjected to endless days of cold and gray, there is little I find more stimulating and optimistic than painting a cheerful and bright Sunny face.  And so when I sat down last night to create a one-page guest entry in the personal art journal of one of my art students (a project I've blogged about before), while hearing the icy wind whipping around the corners of the house and blowing the powdery snow around, I couldn't resist 'whipping' up a warm and happy sun of my own.  Plus it appears a Moon sneaked in there as well (being as that it was night time I couldn't very well leave him out) -- fun times!  Such a hoot in fact that you will likely be seeing more Celestial faces from me before this month-long Challenge is through.  In any event, in addition to catching myself up with Faces, here's hoping I managed to create a memorable piece of art as a keepsake for my young student to always remember me by....

First Face of the '29 Faces' Challenge......

........and ok, it actually turns out to be my student's project.  But I say it counts.  Because for one thing, this day ended up being so jam-packed I never did manage to find a long string of consecutive minutes in order to settle down for a little painting for myself as originally planned (oops).  I did however teach, with one of my students finishing up this lovely portrait of herself today to take home....:

A beautiful self portrait by one of my art students, completed just today.

The self portrait was many sessions in the making, as we've been working on these over the course of a number of weeks.  Under my guidance and supervision, my students followed my direction to work on their projects slowly and with care, while using a light touch and really thinking things through....:

Self Portraits in Progress -- Building Up Layers

And I think the results are just wonderful -- so proud of and pleased with my young students for the patience and perseverance they displayed throughout this project....

An 11 x 14 Student Self Portrait -- Well Done....!

A Front Page Feature on EBSQ's Website.....

A Screenshot of the EBSQ webpage, featuring my 'To Kill a Mockingbird' guest art journal entry as their Book Arts gallery cover image.....

I was so pleasantly surprised today, when making my daily visit to the EBSQ website, to discover a piece of mine being featured on their front page....! Regular readers may recall my participation in the internet-wide '29 Faces' artist's challenge this past May, and how a goodly chunk of my own challenge Faces were guest entries I painted within the journals of my private art students as inspired by classic literature we had read.  And so it appears that EBSQ is highlighting their Book Arts gallery this month, with a cropped pic of the journal entry I painted based upon the characters Scout and Calpurnia in 'To Kill a Mockingbird") as the cover/link image.  Cool...! 

I'm grateful to be included -- lovely of them to do so, plus I'm appreciating how nicely the warm tones of my piece on the far right and the other two displayed paintings all complement each other on the page.  In any case I definitely did a double take when I spied it there -- thank you kindly, EBSQ.....!

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.....

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.

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....