Playing with Digital Paint

Greetings.  As you may know, I have been spending a lot of time doing care giving for my Mom.  I decided that I needed a very portable art medium that I can carry almost anywhere.  I had heard about the Apple pencil to use on the iPad. Since I have an relatively new iPad that goes with me to Mom's when I am staying there, I decided that could be my answer.  Then I heard someone on a video mention the program Procreate.  It is an app for the iPad that comes with LOTS of tools and features.  I have only scratched the surface of what is possible with it.  

By the way, I didn't buy the expensive Apple pencil, I found an aftermarket brand on Amazon that was on sell for $7.49 at the time.  It seems to work very well for me. The Procreate program was only $12.99 which I think is a great bargain.  

So here is my first creation that I started when I knew almost nothing about the program. 

It isn't a masterpiece, but I do like the effects I was able to get with the program and the pencil. 

Then I decided to try using a photo reference as a starting point for a face. 

(Happy Friday Face Off to you!) 

If she looks familiar,  it is because I based her on one of my quilt faces.

However I did change her hair a bit as you can see from the quilt face shown below:

I am linking up with Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Memories - Faces

One of my favorite places to go is in Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula.   A friend and I have found a place where we love to be - when time and finances permit. We have taken many photos during our visits. Since he is the photographer, I am in more of the photos. He is "camera shy." 

We visited the train museum which was a open but just to wander through - no guides. 

At a local art museum I was taking a photo of these big dolls.  One of the workers insisted that I let her take a photo with me in it.  I have a big head, but these folks are the clear winners in this big head contest. 

This, as I am sure you can tell, is NOT me. These two guys run a loncheria (a place to eat lunch.) We often used their services as the food was good and the service was excellent. 

Look out!

If you didn't know how silly/goofy I can be, here is photographic proof. I stuck my socks on my ears and made a face while goofing off with a friend - of course he had the camera ready and snapped this. 

Embrace your childlike side. 

Linking up with Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off

Welcome to the Friday FaceOff for this week.   I will start with a confession.  I have been sick with a mystery bug (not covid, I tested.)  When I feel badly it is difficult to create.   The spirit is willing but the body is resistant.    

Luckily I had put together this face a week or so ago and never have shown it.    My plan was to use up some almost useless scraps for as much of it as possible.  None of these pieces had fusible on the back of them.  Rather,  I layered a piece of batting under a sheet of Steam-a-Seam 2.  This fusible is sticky making it easy to work this way.  Of course I went about it the WRONG way.  I created the face first and then added the background.  That meant that when a piece touched the face, the edges had to be tucked under the edges of the face.  
There was a bit of careful lifting to be sure that the fabrics didn't fray.  

Aunt Lucille

Looking at the photo, I can see that this is not quite finished.  The eyes are lacking pupils and highlights. Ah well, that will be an easy fix as I draw in the pupils with a black sharpie and then use a spot of white paint for the highlight.  If  I felt better, I would just go add it and take a new photo. 
Hopefully I can do that and share the corrected version in a few days. 

__________________

I couldn't stand not fixing it.  So here is the face with the eyes finished. It amazes me how much that tiny bit adds a spark of life to the face. 

I am linking up with  DVArtist for the Friday FaceOff.

  Clicking the link will take you to her blog.  It is great fun

 to see how various people interpret the challenge.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off July 8, 2022

I have been somewhat lazy this week and only started a new face on Thursday.  So today will be a "flashback Friday" face for me.   And since we are in July,  why not "Christmas in July" also?

Several years ago, I took a watercolor class on portraits. That inspired me to paint a few faces. So for a Christmas card that year,  I decided to make a Santa Claus card.  It isn't great but it is a face! 

The eyes are probably my favorite part of this painting.

The Friday Face Off is hosted by DVArtist.  Clicking that link will take you to 

her blog.  It is a great opportunity to see how various people interpret the 

"Face Off" challenge. 

PS  I have finished quilting the small quilt 

It still needs a binding but I will show it to you soon. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off

Welcome to another week of the Friday Face Off.  This "challenge" has really sparked my creative process. 

I am linking up with DVArtist.  You can go to her blog to visit other "Face Off" participants. 

Last week, there was a tutorial showing the process I use to start these.  

That was the beginning of Alien Man.  He is today's face off contribution. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off June 24, 2022

Welcome to another week of the Friday Face Off.  This is a "challenge" that I find very satisfying.  This past Wednesday, I showed the basics of how I start these faces.  

I am linking up with DVArtist.  You can go to her blog to visit other "Face Off" participants. 

Here is today's face: 

Pablo

This fellow has an odd little mustache and beard. I don't know how well it shows, but I attempted to give him dimples.  I purposefully made part of his face askew, because I think it is more interesting. 

I used an interesting fabric, I think it is batik, for the background.  Most of the other fabrics are hand dyed, but there is at least one print, a solid and a batik there also. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

FFO - Friday Face Off

Welcome to my Friday Face Off for Friday June 17, 2022.   A few days ago you may have seen the start of today's quilted face.  

Linking up with DVArtist.

Unfortunately, once I get going in the artistic process, I forget to take any photos. So, at this point there is only that beginning photo and this completed photo.  

Margo

This face is mounted on a canvas in a slightly different manner.  The batting was basted in place with extra fabric going outside the quilted area.  Then it was placed over the canvas and stretched much like a canvas is stretched.  The corners were very neatly folded so that they look neat and proper.  

I did go in with some Inktense color (Inktense blocks) and added some yellow around the left side and just at the bottom on the right side. I did this to enhance the sunburst effect that I did with the quilting; but also to give a bit more contrast with her face on that side. 

Every part of the figure was hand cut freeform using some nice serrated scissors that I got from Famoré Cutlery.   I find these scissors to be very handy for this type of work. 

I really love her hair design.  I got to use some interesting colors in the hair without it appearing to be overdone.  ---but of course at times, I channel Dolly Parton who said, "Some people say less is more, but I think more is more."  Or perhaps Mae West who said "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful." 


And just because I can,  here is a "face" from June 2020:

A dear friend loved this painting when I showed it on social media.  It now lives with her and I hope she is enjoying it. 

One of my friends said that the bird is a chicken, but I think it is a wren, like the one who had taken over my gas grill by building a nest in the area where the igniter is located

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off - One Quilted, One Painted

Welcome to another Friday Face Off.

Following a prompt developed by Nicole at DVArtist,

a few of us create faces in various media. 

Today my new creation is a lady created in 

fusible applique and quilted. 
I love doing these as they present a different type 

of challenge for me. This particular face 

required me to change the color of her nose

AFTER it was quilted. 
Yes, I took a photo and realized that the yellow half of

the nose didn't play well because of an

extreme in contrast. What to do?

I simply took a Derwent Inktense pencil and 

changed the yellow to a blue/green shade. 

Adriana

Next up is a rather old painting. 
In fact, it is so old I don't remember when I painted it. 

This is painted on a canvas board, 

probably because I was trying to be "frugal"

-some would say "cheap" - 

She is interesting but flawed - like most of us. 

I do like the way I used multiple colors

to create the vignette background. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

                                                                  

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off

This has been (and still is) a busy week.  Thus I have decided to share an older face painting for the Friday Face Off with DVArtist (aka Nicole).  

This face was painted years ago just for fun. It is not anyone in particular, although she certainly reminds me of someone. I just can't place the "someone."

This started out as a texture sheet for an abstract painting.

 I saw a suggestion of a face and just went with it. 

Be sure to visit DVArtist and check the linky list to visit the other 

Face Off participants. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off

It is time once again for the Friday Face Off.  Today, I have two faces to share with you.  One is older and has shown on my blog in times past.  But I love it and wanted to use it for the Face Off also. 

First up is the NEW Face.  This face was made using colored polymer clay so that only minimal painting was necessary to finish it.  I used the idea of a tribal mask as my starting point. Somehow it evolved to have "hair" that looks like the top  of a pineapple - inspired by the green clay that I found in my stash of fun supplies.  Here he is:

I think he is a lot of fun even if it is a bit silly. 

Next up is Morticia, a painted face that evolved as I was resolving an

"Ugly painting" start.  The great thing about painting in Acrylic is that you can 

paint over it until you are happy with it.  Of course, that can also be a downfall.

Morticia is not a lovely lady, but she is proud and unbending. 

As I  said earlier, Morticia started as an "ugly" painting. This was an exercise in an 

online paint along that  I was participating in. 

Below is the original Ugly Painting. Interestingly, it started in landscape orientation. 

But as I was looking at adding it to this post, I realized that by rotating it, 

There was  a face created by the white lines. 

I think this was the first time I realized there was  a face there. 

Would you have ever guessed that Morticia evolved from this piece?

Be sure to visit Nicole's blog:  DVArtist to see the other Face Off participants. 

And if you want to see more about "Morticia"  you can check this post:
"The Progressions of a Painting" 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off - "Two Sisters"

Welcome to the Friday Face Off hosted by Nicole at DVArtist.  I am happy to present my latest creation. 

The Two Sisters were originally planned to be two single portraits.  But, 

as soon as I had both of the faces created and put side by side, it was 

obvious that they belonged together.  These are a pair of sisters that stick together. 

(slight pun intended - fusible applique/stick together) 

Both of them were laid on individual backgrounds and photos were taken. 

Then I took a photo of both of them on one background.

To be honest, I asked a couple of close friends, but ultimately the decision

was mine and I chose "together" because artistically they just look better 

Together. 

I started by cutting two faces and two necks.  These were two solid colors of fabric 

stacked together. Then a curvy line was cut  down the middle with the small rotary cutter

on the stacked faces.  The necks were done the same way but with a somewhat straighter

line to divide them.  The pieces were swapped and lightly fused together.

Normally, the eyes would be my next step, but I had a piece of fabric that begged 

to be cut into lips. Each lip was cut separately so that they weren't too much alike.

Then I added the eyes and the noses. 

At the point they looked like this:

I think the hair was one of the most fun parts. 

I used a batik for the "That Girl" flip on the left face. Once it was in place,

it clearly needed more color.  Some Derwent Inktense blocks were used to add 

depth and color to the hair on this one. 

The Blue/Green/Aqua hair was a piece of hand dyed fabric that I cut with

a die cutter for some of the pieces.  The other pieces were cut with a pair of 

scissors from Famoré  that are very easy to use for shaping applique pieces. 

I put all the pieces in place and took a photo for reference.  Then I took up 

those pieces and started adding them back one at a time and fusing them in place. 

The clothes were the last addition prior to quilting this.

The necklace on the left is simply tiny quilting lines.

The necklace on the right was painted with irridescent paint, then 

using an ultra-fine Sharpie marker, I outlined each bead for definition. 

I hope my process didn't bore you too much. 

I haven't started the next face yet, but I have a few ideas -(grin.) 

And here is a sneak peek at what is happening with 

those blocks I showed you. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off

Once again it is time for the Friday Face Off with DVArtist.  This will actually be posted  a couple of hours early (shock!) on Thursday night so I can add my link-up to Nicole's post. 

This week I am going off the clay path and going to another medium - fabric!  Yes this is fabric/collage/quilting.   I have TWO faces to share.  I will share them in the order that I made them. 

First up is this fun little piece, she is 5" by 7" and will eventually be mounted on a canvas for hanging. 

This was my first attempt at an abstract/fantasy face from fabric.

"The Flower Girl"

I will say that working in this small scale, it was a challenge to quilt. 

The good part of working this small was that I wasn't afraid of messing up.

It was small enough to just toss in the trash if it didn't work.  

But it did work and it built my confidence to try again. 

Which leads us to face #2 - a more abstract face.

"Bertha has the Blues"

This piece is 8" by 8" and will also be mounted on a canvas.

This face is closer to what I wanted to create - but still miles away from the vision in my mind.

I love the wild range of fabrics that I used for her hair. 

For this one, I stopped trying to match my quilting thread 

to the fabrics on the face and hair.

Rather I just used black, much like the lines

in a coloring book. 
I love the graphic, whimsical feel it gives this piece. 

Next week, I will have One piece with Two faces.  

It is almost finished.

I love the process of making these faces.  

I think there is a series in the making. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face-off - He Appeared

Have you ever started a project with a vision in your mind, but once you are working, somehow the project changes?    That is what happened with the face for this week.   I started with a very different idea, but this guy just appeared about half formed.  When that happens, it is best to follow the muse and not "the plan." 

So here is my face for this week:

Check out the other Face-off face makers, Nicole at DVArtist and Barbara at Artistic Living to see their faces for this week.  

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off April 29, 2022

Welcome to the Friday Face Off for this week.   This is becoming a regular thing for me. I love playing in the clay and paint.  For me, it is just fun and not too mentally taxing.  I think of it as a "no rules" playdate with myself.   

 Nicole at DVArtist and sometimes Barbara at Artistic Living post clay faces on Fridays for the "Friday Face Off."   So, naturally I want to offer you the opportunity to see what they are doing also.  We each have different styles. 

For this week my face is different.  It is different from the ones I have been making but even more it is different than what I "intended" to make.  And yes, I do love it.  Here are a couple of different angles on it. 

You may be able to tell that I used an iridescent paint on this.  To be transparent and honest with you, I first colored parts of it with Sharpie markers. I wasn't totally happy with that so I added a layer of the pearl iridescent paint over it except for the eyes, which I like.  But the iridescent paint muted the colors too much.  So, more paint was added - being careful to use mostly transparent colors (except for the lips.)   I am rather pleased with the outcome.  I hope I can insert a video here so that you can get a better idea about the look of the iridescent paint.  

Here is the collection of faces I have created since starting this challenge. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off

Once again I have had some time playing in the clay.  Nicole at DVArtist and sometimes Barbara at Artistic Living post clay faces on Fridays for the "Friday Face Off."   As I had a stash of polymer clay, I decided to join in and make faces too.  I think this is number 6 for me. 

Today's face is more of a tribal mask type face.   I made the face with white clay and I used some polymer beads for the eyes, but then decided to paint over them anyway.  I call that "artist's choice" while working. 

I think this face is fun and whimsical.  I reminds me of some masks that I saw in Mexico in a museum. 

Honestly, I just went wild with the paint and had fun. 
Once I got started my "plans" went out the window.  

I could not resist transforming the photo into black and white.

Ha, now I think I need to go back to Mexico and visit that museum

once again for more inspiration. Or maybe I can find the photos I took 

while I was there previously.  

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Face Off - and a Finish

The latest edition of the Friday Face Off is here.   Friday Face Off is a challenge for  Barbara,  DVArtist  and yours truly.  We don't have a prompt, we just make a clay face each week. They are using paper clay while I am using polymer clay because I have it and it needs to be used.  

Today my face does not have a story with it.  Instead I started making a face and let the clay lead me.  I had other plans for it, but here is where it decided to go. 

A friend told me that "It looks a little evil to me." 

But I think it is just different.  I am curious to hear what YOU think. 

Next up is the finished notebook that I made from the painted fabric. 

Front

Back (I kinda wish it was the front)

Inside front cover with pocket and label. 

I have extra pieces of the painted fabric, so I may make some variations on this one. 

But for now I am taking the weekend off to relax. 

As for the weather, it passed by us.  It didn't get nearly as bad as expected here. For that I am truly thankful. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.