My First Sheep and Paper Pieced Lady

I must admit that I love this class almost too much and Junelle is easily the best teacher ever.  I've never had an online class where I actually talked to the teacher and she talks back!  I love when she asks us what we think, just like we could answer her and, I do!  Heehee  She makes me laugh and she makes me want to color outside the lines!  I've never had such dirty hands and am learning that glue not only sticks to paper, but to hands!

I love my comfort zone, who doesn't, but I'm also learning to love being way outside of it. These are my first sheep, but they won't be my last!

This was a class from week two, at least I think so, I've bounced back and forth so many times and looked at videos all of the way to the end of the third week, so I'm not for sure, but I know it was one heck of a fun class. So this was the beginning - I started an art journal in an old book. Junelle showed us how to make our own art journal and so I've given it a try. I gessoed the pages and then painted them with several different shades of blue acrylic paint. Cut out circles for the sheep and modified circles for the heads and ears and stuck them on the body using dimensionals to raise them and give more dimension. Then I put modeling paste on the bodies ( a little on the heads and ears) and using the end of a paint brush I drew circles to make them look curly. After all, these are wooly sheep, not time for sharing yet! The girl is made using various papers, layering to make an apron and skirt. I used a piece of fabric that I modgepodged to make it stiff and added a little ruffle of lace and her muddy boots, well, they don't have legs yet, but they will!

And here they are - legs and a close up of the skirt.  I also added some feet as I noticed my sheep were floating! What will I add now, I'm thinking a pocket with a journal and some pencils would be good and Junelle says sheep are never clean and white, so I must add some coloring! And see how I lifted the head and ears - really does add to the look and, of course, some little pink cheeks!  I'm not for sure about that pink - it it a nose and the black it's mouth or have I just changed the look of  sheep?  Oh, my well it's my interpretation and so it will stay!

 To the right you get to see that great little pocket  - I just wish this girl was me and I was really out walking with sheep following a long behind me - Oh, Junelle, you are a very blessed woman!  To work on a sheep ranch!  To help with the lambing, what a blessing.  I'm so glad you have shared your love of sheep with me (us) and it's such a wonderful reminder of the great shepherd.  I am so thankful to be watched over and led by my shepherd.  This is a perfect time to stop and read Psalm 23 and be reminded of His great love.  I added some journaling and the white, well, not here in Texas for sure, but Junelle says they have snow fall during lambing!  Snow in the spring - wow, we just have flowers and heat, but thanks for the thought and it was fun adding it to the picture as I imagined the cool, crisp air. As it says on picture - Art, sheep and new friends, I am so blessed!

I will post my flowers soon.  She really surprised me on that one.  I've been painting flowers forever, so thought it would be a breeze!  No, no, no - a whole new way of making flowers, so once again I was forced to color outside the lines! What an amazing adventure - you rally need to check out this class.  The "live" three weeks are now ended, but it will be up for a year - so, check it out here.

Art of Wild Abandonment Continues

My last post was of my first radish sketches and my cupcakes, yet to be colored.  Well, I'm back and I've been busy sketching and coloring and paper piecing (a first for me) and generally having fun.   I'm still on last weeks classes so it's a good thing we can work on this at our own pace.

This was a busy week for me, spring break was over and it was back to business, Bible study Tuesday and Thursday morning, Sealy Christian Pantry Board meeting Wednesday afternoon, City Council meeting Wednesday night  and Property Owners Association Meeting last night and I still squeezed in a little bit of sketching and painting as I found time.

So here are my painted cupcakes.  I ended my last post with a picture of the sketch.  I did this on watercolor paper and then put it in my art journal.  I did get it colored later that night, but just didn't get around to taking pictures and posting it until now.

The next thing in our class was an exercise drawing sweet peas - you know green peas in a shell - well, this just didn't jive with me and so until a couple of days ago I didn't even draw one.  I was sketching in my bible study book and I drew one along with a few on a picket fence and some other things


The next thing in our class was called "Spring Line Up" and was a clothes line filled with clothes or what ever we wanted.  The first one I did I painted the clothes, then I watched the second video and found out we were paper piecing the items on the line.  You make a simple sketch in your sketch book and then draw it on heavier paper in your art journal and paper piece the items.   I have so many paper scraps that it was easy for me to find paper to match my clean clothes!  I grew up with a clothes line and so this really took me back to some good and not so good memories.  We lived just south of St. Louis and in the summer it was fine to hang clothes out, but come winter - well, they froze!  We were very fortunate to have a basement and mom could hang clothes in there in the winter, but still cold and not much fun.

I journaled a little bit on it, but when I realized I hadn't done it correctly, I just stopped and started over.
So here's the second one - with the paper piecing.

This one had some wind blowing and I added a nest for one of the birds, a cat and some bluebonnets and some journaling.  The red long johns represented the end of winter and I would like to have a dress like on the end - will be watching for that as I head into spring and summer shopping.  The point of the exercise is to have fun and I did, but I'm still not comfortable with splashing paint and stamping willy nilly on the front of my work, but the class is called "The Art of Wild Abandonment" so I guess I just need to continue to let go of the thoughts of perfection!

Following this I haven't painted another thing, but I've done lots of simple sketching.  I did this one of my work table!  I'm actually surrounded with stuff with about a foot of work space and this showed it quite well.  This is on plain paper, so I probably won't redraw it in my journal and paint it, but you never know.

The rest of my pictures are simple sketches I did during  some meetings on the back of the handouts or in my study book.  I said several months ago when I posted some of my sketches, long before this class that I draw on anything that stays still!  I still do, the difference with this class is that I'm learning to use sketching as a form of journaling (haven't really learned that yet) and also, to paint the sketches.  Up until now I mostly just sketched to be sketching!  Just like these little pictures here.  I did practice on my owls and another little clothes line, but mostly just scribbles with one painted with a highlighter! Not exactly fine art!!!!!

                                       

Note, I reverted back to my flowers, my go to comfort sketch and what about that sheep?  You did know it was a sheep, right?  Actually it kind of reminds me of Lassie with a way too curly perm!  So, now I head back to class!  This week we do some dogs and some cats. That's the only thing I know as I couldn't look ahead and complete what I needed to complete.  So later tonight I start looking at this weeks daily videos - See you in a few days with my newest sketches.