'lil' ~ acrylic paint, fabric, and marks all pencil in old book, 4" x 6"

i started out last week painting acrylic faces, but became so frustrated that i switched to doodling simple girls in pencil.... one day i drew a puffy skirt (like lil's wearing), and then i was off drawing folk art girls inspired by laurie meseroll.  i dearly love laurie's paintings...

'belle' ~ acrylic paint, oil pastels, and graphite in old book, 4" x 6"

before that, endless messing...   i was unhappy with the right side of belle's face so i covered it up with white paint, which was much better.   also i tried *many* variations of lips before finding one she liked!

'madge'~ acrylic paint, oil pastels, and graphite in old book, 4" x 6"

next i painted madge, and she gave me no trouble...  as with the other faces, i used my fingers, a palette knife, and scrubber brushes.   i really *love* scrubber brushes.  thank you lisa for telling me about them!

untitled ~ acrylic paint and graphite in old book, 4" x 6"

this was the last face i painted before i went off on the folk girl track;  i got completely stuck on this one;  just could not find my way to a happy ending.  so, after a ridiculous number of layers i gave up.  notice i tried The White Paint On One Side Of The Face Trick to no avail...   if she weren't on a fragile old book page i'd scrape a lot of the paint off and see what showed up, but since i can't, i'll leave her as is. 

pencil and colored pencil in charvin journal, 5 1/2" x 8"

i distract myself frequently with colored pencil drawings - it's fun, it's easy!   some of these drawings were inspired by katherine dunn's book 'creative illustration workshop'.   i'm crazy about that book...

 

pencil and colored pencil on part of page in charvin journal

pencil and colored pencil in charvin journal

me talking to acrylic paint, ha ha...

pencil and colored pencil in moleskine weekly planner

 bits from my moleskine weekly planner...    since the space for each day is about 3" x 5", i usually draw small so i can fit a bunch in.   the girl on the far right is a little over 1" tall;  if you're a small face drawer you know that getting the lips right can be challenging.   you need a very sharp point on your colored pencil... 

tuscan red and poppy red verithin pencils

i now use prismacolor verithin pencils for tiny lips...  they're hard and they keep a sharp point for a long time...  i *need* deco pink and orange!

'delia' ~ acrylic paint, cloth, oil pastels, and graphite in old book, 4" x 6"

it's been great to draw legs and arms at crazy angles; to lay down the task of learning how to draw figures more realistically.   i'm not sure i'll pick it up again...

'cornelia' ~ acrylic paint on 100# bristol

i went away on a big adventure for a month, and now i'm back...   i drew every day while i was gone, but by the time i got home i really wanted to paint messy.  so that's what i did with 'cornelia' and 'loraine'... 

'loraine' ~ acrylic paint on 100# bristol

i started painting 'cornelia' with my fingers, and finished 'loraine' with them.  i think that more than anything else i've done with acrylics, it helped me *know* just how much time i have before the paint gets tacky and stops moving easily.  it literally and figuratively gave me a 'feeling' for them. 

pencil and watercolors in pentalic bamboo journal

mostly i've been drawing figures - learning how to draw them.  it's not easy...  i seem to have no intuitive know-how on this matter!

pencil and watercolors in pentalic bamboo journal

but little by little i'm beginning to see how the shoulder falls or the foot sits...

pencil and watercolor pencils in stillman and birn 'gamma'

it's not as agonizingly difficult as it used to be.

pencil and watercolors in pentalic bamboo journal

and i don't want to draw perfect figures, but i do want to know how the parts of the body relate to one another.

pencil and watercolor pencils in stillman and birn 'gamma'

i've tried learning from books and that goes nowhere.  practice seems the only answer.

my new favorite drawing thing is a 2014 moleskine daily calendar/planner.   i love this! 

these two pages are last week... for someone who likes to draw small, it's perfect.  :)

* * * 

“Do anything, but let it produce joy. Do anything, but let it yield ecstasy.” 

~ Henry Miller