Flip through the pages

Last year, Debbi made me a gorgeous book for my birthday. It took me until last week to get the guts up to make a mark in it. Now I can't stop.

This is the doodle on which I based my lino cut.

Then I started practicing my drawing techniques from "Right Side" and drew and watercolored this topiary that sits on my mantle.

Then some doodles and faces and other things, including a cat that looks like the kind of creature Katie Kendrick might draw.

These faces are sort of androgynous, but lean toward the masculine to my eye. These were freehand with a reference.

I have always admired Judy Wise's paintings and tried my hand using one of hers as a reference. Nowhere near the level that Judy works, but it was fun to do. On 6x6 canvas.

This last one is a painting over a collage based on one of the sketches above. I really enjoyed this method. The marks were made with a General Pencil, the kind that writes on glass, drawn over acrylic and caran d'ache on a 6x6 canvas.

Next post: 200

Pix from our trip to Florida

We were all packed, the dog was wet and smelling up the car, kids were in the backseat fighting. We even rolled out on time: 7am on the dot. First time ever.

Didn’t even get out of the neighborhood when I discovered the boys forgot the books I told them to bring 47 billion times. Back to the house, unlock the door, get books, pile in again.

Mark: Wha—hey, the key won’t turn.

Cheryl: What?

Mark: The. Key. Won't. Turn.

{Insert fifteen minutes of jiggling the key, shimmying the steering wheel, rocking the car, stomping the brake, wiggling the gear shift, pounding head against dashboard, swearing, praying.)

Cheryl: Let me try my key.

No dice. The laws of physics did not change despite my getting into the driver’s seat.

A quick bit of Google research uncovered that it’s likely the ignition lock. We'll probably need a new key lock, key lock housing and possibly a new park lock cable assembly.

Needless to say, Lucy and Desi won’t be going to Florida and the Yukon has gone to the shop.

Note skid marks from the truck being forcibly dragged onto the flat bed.

Bye! Thanks for scraping the foot of the driveway!
See you in about $500.

Eavesdropping on the Praters

Mark: You know, Atlanta just isn't freakin' hot enough in July. Isn't there a way we can get closer to the equator without leaving the contiguous US?

Cheryl: Hey! I know! Let's visit my folks in South Florida. We can pack up the boys and the dog and burn about $400 in gas by driving 20+ hours round trip! Oooh....maybe Trumpet will vomit!

Mark: Great idea, but I'm worried about gaining weight while we're at your folks'.

Cheryl: Yeah, my Mom's a great cook.

Mark: True, but it's not that. I'm concerned about the empty calories in all the beer I'll have to drink to get through the visit.

Copycat

Looking at your reference upside down is the next exercise in "Drawing Right." I admired Juliana Coles' self-portrait the current CPS pictured below. That cowgirl's got skills, y'all. See more in her etsy store.

I followed it loosely and this is my result.

Not a great facsimile, I gave mine curly hair and made a couple other edits - some intentional. On the whole, it doesn't stink. I think my portrait looks a little like Linda Hamilton in T2, you know, when she had the killer biceps?

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Didn't know I'd been drawing on the wrong side, but I have. I am packing up and moving out of the left side of my noodle in an effort to improve my drawing skills.

I have reached a point in my art where I want to express things that I don't have the ability to accomplish, so I've decided to take a drawing class. The class starts in September and is for Intermediate to Advanced drawers. I have never taken drawing, so I tapped Betsy and asked her what I should do to prepare. She suggested Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.

I got the book last night and am very impressed with the approach, now over forty years old, but it's new to me. Here are two before and after self portraits of students of Betty's -- the before completed before instruction (5 day intensive, 8 hours a day) and the after on the end of the fifth day. Remarkable. Even better than a Proactive ad.

See more gallery pictures here.

The book recommends that you complete three drawings before beginning the study to benchmark your current skills: your hand (non dominant as model), a self portrait, and a person from memory - no visual reference. I have completed two of the three and have posted them here. I hope to see the dramatic results the two students above accomplished. We'll see.

I've never really tried a self-portrait and was a little surprised that this one came out as well as it did. I am pretty happy with the nose. The eyes are too big, the irises too. I look like one of the victims of that plague in the X Files movie, or like this baby, only grown up.

Reese and I went to APS for orientation today. So exciting! More on that later.

For those of you keeping count, only 5 more posts till the bicentennial blowout.

Extra! Extra! Get your Embellishments!

If you aren't a subscriber to Cloth Paper Scissors' free e-newsletter, you can sign up for Embellishments here.

Today's mailing is of particular interest, pasted below for your viewing pleasure, as well as my own self-serving purposes.

Pre-order now & Save!
Mixed-Media Self-Portraits and Mixed Mania

We're publishing two new mixed-media books this fall, and you're invited to preview them and pre-order now at a special savings. We're publishing two new mixed-media books this fall, and you're invited to preview them and pre-order now at a special savings.

Mixed-Media Self-PortraitsInspiration & Techniques
By Cate Coulacos Prato

Filled to the brim with a wealth of inspiration, creative prompts, techniques and compelling artwork, from many of your favorite artists, this book is an artistic guide to representing the self creatively in mixed-media, featuring a range from art quilts and assemblage to art dolls and collage. Makers of all skill levels and media--collage, mixed media, art quilt, paper craft, and book arts--will enjoy the focus on this very popular art form.

Click here to pre-order Cate's book.




Mixed Mania: Recipes for Delicious Mixed Media Creations
By Debbi Crane and Cheryl Prater

Frequent Cloth Paper Scissors contributors Debbi Crane and Cheryl Prater have whipped up this book featuring 20-plus smart and sassy projects divided like a cookbook into appetizers, main courses, and sweet treats for a fresh perspective on creating mixed-media projects. From artist books to assemblage, art quilts to art dolls, it's all here, plus how-to instructions on a variety of mixed-media, collage, and surface design techniques.

Click here to pre-order our book. Click it, you know you want to.

The Quilting Arts Book
by Patricia Bolton

This is Art Quilting 101 in a book! Patricia Bolton, founder and editor-in-chief of Quilting Arts Magazine, has assembled some of the most popular topics, articles, and artists from past issues of Quilting Arts Magazine--plus innovative new techniques offered by today's most respected contemporary quilt artists--in this definitive art-quilting technique and inspiration book.

Click here to pre-order Pokey's new book.

I am rapidly closing in on 200 posts. The prize? An autographed copy of.....wait for it.......Mixed Mania! Signed by BOTH authors. OoooooOoooooooooo.

Get ready to stop lurking and start commenting.

And you thought a pasta machine was weird?

Susan Rostow and William Jung, the creators of Akua ink, used a steamroller. Really. Just think of the size of the ravioli you could get with that thing.

Check out the slide show, even their son Jarrett got in on this collaborative print - with his skateboard.