'eileen' ~ watercolors, gouache, casein paint, 8B pencil and oil pastels in 'the merry men'it's taking me a long time to paint faces these days. following my one-thing-leads-to-another approach has me putting down a lot of paint that later gets wiped off or painted over. way more than usual. so i work on a piece for a few hours and then walk away from it. wait for the energy to come back 'round. it's not the easiest way to paint, that's for sure. it begins to feel like work instead of play, and for me that's a big 'ol message to chill. wait 'til things get clearer... which eileen looks like she might be doing, lol!
pogo prints, 8B pencil and primacolor pencils in pocket moleskineso i mess around in my moleskine more. look at flowers in the dover book 'traditional floral designs and motifs', draw them, and then color them in. i love to color... i've often thought that all i really need is a (very cool) coloring book.
patrice with wax paper over her in 'the merry men'a couple of people asked about patrice and the beeswax... yeah i did cover the entire page with beeswax, and then i took an awl and carved into the wax so i could put black casein paint in there - that's what the black outline is.
this time instead of spraying the page with PYM II as a way to 'fix' the wax, i just put a piece of wax paper over her. doing a lot of wax pages in the milton book (last summer), i ended up feeling that you really have to start taking extra care of the book once you do it. no leaving the book outside in the sun (which i did with the milton book many times), and no laying it under the woodstove to make pages dry faster - stuff like that. otherwise it seems fine to put wax on the pages...
this is what 'the merry men' looks like now. i haven't taken out many pages, but it looks like i'm going to have to start taking out more. just putting the bits of wallpaper on the pages adds bulk, and the wax pages really do.
* * *
“The hidden harmony is better than the obvious."
~ Pablo Picasso, via tumblr
XO
Oh my, instant love affair with Eileen. I love this painting! Her beautiful collar reminds me of a string of red choker beads I used to wear in the early 70's. oxox
ReplyDeleteEileen has the greatest, deepest eyes. Did she shave off her eyebrow in much the same way as Vincent cut off his ear in a fit of pique? It does add alot of dash.
ReplyDeleteThe colors are bold and wonderful
xx
julie
:))
ReplyDeletethanks to you, i have waxed in a book tonight. i'm really Really in love with doing that now.
:))
the outline that you have gotten from carving and adding paint, REALLY makes it pop. it just looks amazing.
xxa
Ellen looks to me like Gwenth after she broke up with Brad...ha. I like the emotions coming from her...so expressive. And under the heading, ask me anything...when you say moleskin, are you referring to the company that puts out the "books" or another type of surface. Sorry, I'm a late bloomer and trying to learn at my age takes a while. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOOOps, Eileen. Guess I was thinking of someone else.
ReplyDeleteI love her..If you need to relax.Drop by my blog and give a look. Just breath and relax.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Katelen
Eileen looks very confident& relaxed to me. I am loving the blue sky with fluffy clouds over her left shoulder.
ReplyDeleteYes, creating should not be stressful. I ran into that feeling myself today. Coloring books are a wonderful thing..... better yet, a mandala coloring book. xo Sandy
Eileen i a beauty! I love the way so much text is peeking through. She looks rather pensive. Wherever she is, she is wishing she were somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's something in the air. I am doing so much putting on, wiping off of paint that it's become kind of funny (if it weren't so frustrating!!) I am chasing something! Let's hope I catch it one of these days.
Your art looks amazing, and the wax makes it so dreamy, so beautiful! I don't get tires of looking at it♥
ReplyDeleteTake your time...the work is spectacular...and your tips are wonderful. Peace, Mary Helen
ReplyDeleteShe looks a strong person Eileen, she obviously has something on her mind, quietly hatching a plan?
ReplyDeleteI like that you tell us about those faces that get paint put down, wiped off, applied again etc. Makes us realise we all do that, have good days and some not quite so....some days there is just a different flow. Maybe that is what has given Eileen that pensive look (as Zen Studio said)
Beautiful background Eileen too.
Jacky xox
The blue eye/brown eye/one eyebrow look is fabulous! I love how she is looking off to the side, too.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the wiping away of paint to reveal what came before. I've been doing that a lot lately, too, and will probably be doing it again today. Sometimes it's a bit like looking for buried treasure.
:0)
xoxoxo
Lots of paint scraping and removal was going on until I just left it alone and started working on dyeing and boiling walnuts. (see blog) It's good to have another outlet when one gets frustrating.
ReplyDeleteThe blue in the sky is such a great addition!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to be back in the Blogosphere and catch up with your recent drawing days, Lynne - hope your energy is renewed.. Here is a breath of fresh air kiss from Lake Tahoe for you...sus
ReplyDeleteHow I would love to hold your book 'The Merry Men' and gently turn the pages..
ReplyDeleteEileen looks a little uncertain about your 'work' process!! I wonder what she's thinking! Wise words from PP - lovely post thank you Lynne
ReplyDeleteInteresting! thank you :)
ReplyDeleteI love Eileen! And of course I love hearing about your process. In fact I followed your tutorial and tried my own face. What fun! I had to do a face as part of my HotWax class and decided to try. Thank you so much for sharing your work and yourself! xxxooo
ReplyDeleteewww, work instead of play... yikes... and yes to coloring... one of my fav things to do to... xo
ReplyDeletei love the sketches and coloring you do around your photos and art. so fun to hear about your wax experiences. I just love beeswax, the smell and to the touch. as always awesome to see your art and hear about what you are up to and feeling.
ReplyDeletexx
Oh so colorful! She is autumn in person!
ReplyDeletewonderful, really.
Eileen looks like a girl you can trust...love the sky background.
ReplyDeleteHi again Lynne!
ReplyDeleteLast night I did a face on a book page using your wonderful and so generous instructions from your Sept. post "How to". Thank you thank you for that. I did not know what gouache was and I had never bought water colors before. Now I have them and some ideas are brewing in my head to combine these with the acrylic paints I love so much.
If you would like to see my little piece you can go to my Lisa Graham Art on facebook (there's a link on my blog).
A while back my husband asked me to do a funky sort of face for his office at work and now I can practice with the gouache to do some vibrant colored faces until I come up with what he wants. I plan to share them and then link you in a future post if that is okay with you.
Thank you again Lynne! I just love your art work!
Hi Lynne love Eileen she has a "im not amuzed " look about her lol and i think i need one of those chill pills too , iv just moved and im totally exhausted and full of tension , cant wait to get back to my arty farty play....
ReplyDeletehugz bev