Flowers, Doodles and the Color Red!

   Merry Friday everyone! We had two gorgeous days of 63 F temps ( very unusual in Dec!) so I took advantage and did some xmas shopping. I only have a few things to buy yet but my cards need to get made and the decorating needs to get done. We'll see how far I get :)

  Back in October during the time we lost power I posted about the art I was creating using techniques from Traci Bautista's Doodles Unleashed book. You can see the art and read more about the projects here and here. I have continued to read her book and practice more of the techniques. The following art journal page is the latest one I tried which Traci calls "pipette drawings on tissue collage".

  This is how it began:

  This was a page that had leftover inks and paints wiped on from previous projects. Flower petal and circle shapes were cut from colored tissue papers and glued onto the page. Higgins Black Magic ink was used with the pipette to draw around the flower petals and circles, then I added some doodling. Oil pastels were then used to color in the flowers a bit and for some mark making. Caran D'Ache watersoluble crayons were randomly applied to background areas and spread around with a water brush. 

And this is the "finished" practice page:

 

 

  I added some gesso with my fingertip then went over some areas of the flowers, drawing in more doodle lines with the black ink. I did a little bit of spattering with the ink and considered it done.

 

  Here's a detail pic of the flower:

 

 

  I love the depth that is acquired by this technique!

 

  Also I did another letttering/doodle practice for this week's Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge #5 at Artists in Blogland and hosted by the uber talented Jessica Sporn and Carolyn Dube.



There is a new guest artist for each challenge along with great new prompts and art to inspire you. Oh, and there's always a nice prize pkg with the winner chosen at random just for playing!

  Challenge #5 prompts:

Headline Prompt: Lifelong Fan: What or who have you consistently valued or looked up to in your life? What lessons have you learned from people you admire?
Color Prompt: Your favorite color now or from childhood or both!
Quote Prompt: "Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator; but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh." W.H.Auden
  I chose to go with the color prompt and the quote prompt.

 

 

  Yes, red has been my very favorite color for as long as I can remember! There are many pics of me in red from the time I was a toddler. I just love the energy of this color. I used  a calligraphy pen and Sharpie poster paint marker. "Laugh" is the last word in the quote above so I started with that. Then I "sloppy" wrote the entire quote over the letters and finished it with some thin, loose doodly lines around the letters. Another fun challenge!

 

  I'm linking up this week to Art Journal Everyday, Paint Party Friday and Fall Fearless and Fly. I'm currently working on cards and ornaments so my next post may be a festive one :) Have a wonderful weekend!

 

       " Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal." Source Unknown