Art Journal Challenge Final Week: Blank

I have to confess that I have no self-portrait this week! Early in the week, I tried a profile only to have my media NOT mix! I set it aside for a few days but have been unable to come up with a fix - in part becuz this week completely and totally got away from me.

So no self-portrait from Sherry - tho there is one from Ellen (click here). I will post another journal page a little later and I will eventually add a slideshow of the work we did (including yours if you let me know).

I learned a couple of things from this challenge:

• I don't draw enough anymore and I'm pretty good at it so I should do it more and get even better.
• we are too self-critical - far harder on ourselves than on others. Case in point, one woman's drawings look just like her subject matter yet she feels the need to tell us what they're supposed to be and what's wrong with them. She needn't explain - it's perfectly clear to me what she's drawing. And even if it wasn't perfectly clear, it's ART and she owes no one an explanation let alone an apology.
• we don't celebrate each others' artistic endeavors enough

What's next? Ellen is supposed to come up with a challenge for us to post at the end of October. Wonder if she knows?

Thanks for joining us in this challenge ~ Sherry

Oops!

In my last art journal post, I forgot to give you the links to the other two SELF-PORTRAIT ART JOURNAL CHALLENGE participants who have shared their results with me.

Click here to see Ellen's most recent entry.

Click here to see Sharon's most recent entry.

If anyone else is participating, please share your results with me.

This Friday is the last day of doing this weekly. I think I want to switch to monthly after that - I'm not getting any other posts OR art journal pages done. And I'm starting to feel a little vain what with focusing on my own face so much!!

Thanks ~ Sherry

Art Journal Challenge Week 3: Nonconformity

This is week 3 of the self-portrait art journaling challenge. Today I got a little carried away with drawing the picture of me and then didn't know what to say about it - it was really more of a portrait than a journal page - so I put it aside when my friend Roz came over.
After the third time she told me I was more weird than the rest of us, I pulled out one of the rubber stamps I had stolen from her and tattooed the middle of my forehead with the words

CONFORM
and be
DULL.

I have always been a little "different". And except for junior high, I've always felt pretty good about it. I know that's what Roz meant by "weird":
unique, different, one-in-a-million, special.

A few years ago, for a project, I asked my friends and non-friends to describe me. The constant themes of the answers were independent and open, accepting and non-judgmental. Of course, since only my friends answered the email, the results were nice!

Be yourself.
Accept others for being themselves.
And life will never be dull ~ Sherry

Art Journal Challenge Week 2: I used to . . .

Week #2 (tho Ellen's blog says week #3 - she's ahead of me!!) and I elected to do a full body line drawing.

I used a fine point sharpie for the sketch & writing. Then I went around it with a black glitter gel pen and wet brush to get the shadows.

This is not quite the face or body I have now (the real ones really are more "poofy" and definitely look like they're "50+") but they're not exactly what I had before either. Guess this is closer to the me in my head. And since I change my hairstyle all the time, I'm willing to bet I had this one at one time.

It is so good to be in a place in my life where I can be/do what I always wanted. Yes, there's still a "day job" or two to pay the bills but I see myself as an artist now. Life is good. God is good.

~ Sherry

ps - my legs DID look like that about half a life ago - deep sigh - and I notice that while I accept myself as an artist, I still can't accept my age - lol



linked to the Something Old Challenge at Mixed Media Monday

Art Journal Challenge Week 1: YIKES!!!

So this is week one of the challenge. And boy, was it a crazy week. Clients (not art clients). PayPal. Life in general.

In light of that, I tried to give myself a crazy look with extra wide eyes and kooky hair.

I used several different media on this journal page - watercolor background, collaged image of me, acrylic paints, gel pens, permanent markers, graphite & color pencils. I also used the new (at least to me) Golden Digital Grounds so I could print on top of the collage. There are actually lots of iridescent paints too, but those don't seem to scan well!

Ellen went a completely different direction with her page - reflecting on her native american heritage and adding images to her face. Click here to see it & read about it.

I'm going back to work on the PayPal issues on my website so wish me luck - I wouldn't want next week's journal page to reflect the same feelings as this one (might have to put tape over the mouth so bad words don't come out!!)

~ Sherry

Art Journal - Self-Portrait

Ellen came over Friday and we had a lot of fun sharing techniques and sketching. She showed me photos for Mombasa and the travel art journal she kept while there. I shared a few tips on drawing facial features. And we decided to post our journal pages every Friday for four or five weeks then get together to see what's next. She used a photo of herself and almost finished a journal page.

And I remembered something very important: While I can draw great eyes & lips and decent noses & ears, THE PEOPLE I DRAW DON'T LOOK LIKE THE PEOPLE I'M DRAWING!!!! This is a major drawback to the journal plan. So I traced a picture of myself: I don't have any hair becuz I'm going to add that when I do the actual journal pages (I did draw my head shape but it didn't show up on the scan).

Check out Sharon's self portrait. When she commented on my previous post, I wasn't sure which Sharon was writing. But as soon as I clicked on her post I knew becuz her drawing looks just like her. Great work!!

So come back next Friday to see our first journal pages. Anyone else want to join the fun? ~Sherry

Art Journal Challenge - want to join us?

Back in mid-July, my friend Ellen and I set ourselves an art journal challenge. Hmmm. Maybe I should back up a little more so I can try to show the paths that led us to the lightbulb moment.

Ellen's path: Ellen has been learning to draw and paint by taking some local and online classes. Her skills have improved remarkably. She also keeps art journals chronicling her life as well as what she's learning. When our local art group, The Ephemerites, met in July she showed me that she was starting sketching faces. Ahhhh. The nose. The bane of many an artist. And Ellen was struggling with it like the rest of us.

My path: I've been watching Ellen develop her abilities and thinking that I really need to start drawing again. And I really need to take a watercolor class sometime (I love watercolor but my abilities with it seem to be limited to backgrounds!). Sometime early in July I read an old CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS about an artist who drew a basic picture of herself then copied it and used it over and over in her art journal.

The lightbulb: Our paths crossed at the art meeting and we decided to get together and draw our faces then copy them and cut them out to use in our art journals. The drawings will be basic so we can add to them in the journal. I envision putting myself on a background and adding hair and eye makeup and jewelry all based upon where I am that day.

We start Friday. So why did we wait so long? Ellen went on a mission trip to Kenya for two weeks then spent a week in very unpleasant airports trying to get home. I'm thinking her journal pages might be a little more interesting than mine (hehe).

It's been awhile since we talked about it but I believe we decided we had to do one journal page this way a week. Which is one more journal page a week than I'm doing now (why are summers still so busy when you don't have kids at home?).

I'll post mine here and see if Ellen will let me put hers here too.

So - would you like to join us in the challenge? I'd love to see a bunch of your sketches and journal pages too ~ Sherry