Friday, November 9, 2012

Weathering The Storm With Art

  In my last post I mentioned riding thru the hurricane and power outtage by catching up on reading and making some art during the daylight hours. One of the things I did was to create two projects for The Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge. My first was zentangle/doodle art which you can see here.

 The second project isn't really a project, really just some practice sketching using the color prompt which is black and white.




  For this flower doodle I used a water soluble marker to sketch on old sketch paper. I then used a waterbrush and went over the lines, also brushing "out" to add shading and soft branches giving it a watercolor effect.
  Here's another example:

  This was sketched on a scrap of 90lb. watercolor paper. The two most important things for this technique to work is to use a water soluble marker in order to get the color to bleed, and to go over it with the waterbrush very lightly or you'll have a smudgy mess and lose all the detail- I know :)

  Now this kind of sketch practice I can handle-no pressure when using just one color. How about trying it in red, or blue? I know I will!

  Of course I had to get into some color next so I opened up my take along journal which I use for waste paint etc. and got to work!


 There was color to start with on the page but I neglected to take a pic until after I added more. I used a credit card to scrape some Golden's Cobalt Teal, Folk Art's Light Green and Violet Pansy acrylic paints over top. Then I made circles over that with my fingers and some white gesso and then some Golden's Paynes Grey Fluid Acrylic. Sorry, again no pic but you'll see it in the next pic.

  This is my completed "Eye of The Storm" page:


  I used a variety of markers and pens and wrote words around and around about Hurricane Sandy and its effects on the NE coast and how I was feeling. The idea for this continuous writing practice came from an exercise in Traci Bautista's book Doodles Unleashed. I know I've said it before but I love this book-it is LOADED with so many techniques and practices!! (in  this post I shared my very first "girlie glam" face painting using techniques from the book.) I finished my storm page with one last word layer using a white correction pen.

  Here's a detail pic of layers and lettering:

 
 
  What a great exercise-that felt so good! Give it a try- let it out on paper-do it with abandon- and you'll see what I mean. And if you do I'd love see what you come up with and your thoughts about the process. I'm linking up to the Fall Fearless and Fly challenge, the Art Journal Everyday challenge , the Paint Party Friday challenge and Show and Tell Saturday #28 at Artists in Blogland.
 
   On a final note: the election is over and whether or not the candidate for president  you voted for here in the US was elected, the most important thing to remember is that we are all in this together and in order for things to improve and change it takes cooperation and support.
 
  Thanks to everyone for your emails, thoughts and prayers regarding the storm and please continue to pray and help those who continue to suffer from the huge losses and devastation.
 
      "Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference." Anon.
 
 


26 comments:

  1. Beautiful compositions with delicious colors. The flower is exquisite monochrome. Really creative.

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  2. Love your wispy zentangled flower, Linda! And, the journal page shows just how much the storm affected you. Love that you are able to "just do it"!!!

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  3. Wonderful doodles! I love the bleeding lines. :)

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  4. Wow, Linda! I couldn't begin to tell you how gorgeous your eye of the storm is.

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  5. Lovely artwork, Linda ~ love the b/w and the color creations ~ Wow is right! (A Creative Harbor) ^_^

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  6. You have really described the hurricane Sandy very well! so much powr in it, strength, dunamic waves (circles)! I hope you'll stay safe hereafter!

    An interesting technique in painting, I quite like it!

    Wonderful paintings you've made! :)

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  7. Very nicely done. Love your zentangled flower. Hoping all is well for you and your family. Nice work. Happy PPF!

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  8. Love the diversity of these 2 pieces! The effect of the water soluble marker softened with water is lovely and then the WOW of the 'Eye of the Storm', all that vibrant colour and the swirl of writing is amazing!

    x

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  9. Love that leaf - so delicate. It almost looks embossed. And the eye of the storm really captures all the swirling movement beautifully.

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  10. Those doodles are beautiful! And your art journalpage is very striking. Lovely!

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  11. Wonderful artwork Linda....I love that green, purple and blue background, it's calming and beautiful and then I feel the frenetic storm in the final piece...I really feel it...so glad it helped you express those emotions. Very cathartic!!

    Thanks for sharing every bit. Still praying for the people there...so sad. My daughters company is fundraising for the hurricane victims. Sadly some of their distributors were affected.

    Take care!

    Sending love and light!!
    Hugs Giggles

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  12. What wonderfully contrasting pieces Linda.

    I love how delicate the first is and then wow .... the strength and power of the second one is amazing.

    Karenx

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  13. Love these beautiful drawings and colors. They are amazing.... :)

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  14. You managed to capture in paper what it must have been like to live through such a fierce storm. Love the words and the painting

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  15. What a great selection of work. I really love your eye of the storm piece - chaotic just like I am sure the hurricane was! x

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  16. I love your bold and strong 'hurricane page'... beautiful!

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  17. Love your Fall Fearless & Fly entries. It's been amazing to see all the creativity that emerged from the black & white prompt. Thank you for explaining your technique. I am especially drawn, however, to your hurricane page. It would be so great to collect all of the art responses to the hurricane in one place. Hmmm - I think I'll create a flickr group for that!

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  18. Your sketches with a bit of water added are fantastic (as is your eye of the storm!)- so glad you shared this with Fall Fearless and Fly!

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  19. Eye of the storm! Brilliant - and beautiful - and colorful - and . . . .love it! xoxo

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  20. I love your eye of the storm, very powerful!

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  21. Your eye of the storm is quite intriguing! I also like your leaf and flower pieces, the technique seems interesting also.

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  22. Love to be in the eye of the storm with you! What an explosion of color and words ♥

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  23. Eye of the storm yes, it is beautiful. I like the continuous writing and all of that color.

    How have you made out after the storm? Do you have electric back on. I hope you do. I live on Long Island. We have electric but so many still do not. My husband has been working overtime everyday, 7 days. He works for the town.

    Hope all is well.

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  24. Hello Dear Linda ~ you inspire me again and again!
    I have wanted to try the sketching and water brush technique...your sketches look wonderful
    and that background page = WOW

    glad you are safe
    very sad for so many still displaced and suffering

    hugs to you!
    oxo

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  25. Your black and white drawings are really nice. I especially love the flower with all of the interesting lines and shapes.

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Thank you so much for your comments; it's a pleasure to connect with you!