Art 101 Week 5....Line Work

This week has been a weird week for me.  I have been a little under the weather, had multiple appointments to go to and a lot on my mind.  Being the introvert that I am, having to go somewhere too many times in a week can really throw me off my game.  

I surprisingly still managed to be creative and diligent about spending time in my studio but a few things went un-done.  I didn't make little prompt tags for all of my entries like I normally like to do, but that's okay.  I can always go back and make those.              

So the first prompt was "What made you want to be an artist?"  This was so easy for me because it went back to my best friend that I met when I was 13.  I met her the Summer before we started Middle School or 7th grade.  We met one time and then saw each other again once school started and we were in some classes together.  She was the most creative and artistic person I had ever met.  And what was even better was she had as crazy of an imagination as I did. We made our pencils into little dolls and would get in trouble over and over again for talking in class to each other and playing around.  She came from a very artistic German family and I idolized everything about her and what to me seemed like a very bohemian lifestyle and family.  

Karin drew these adorable little mice and would use them to illustrate her life and decorated hand written notes to me with them.  I worked and worked at learning to draw those little mice as effortlessly as she did.  But in my mind, they were always her signature mice.  

Years after we met, she made an Anniversary card for me for our years of friendship.  I did not know my mom had kept that card and when I was in my late 20's my mom gave me a huge scrapbook of "my life" and there inside was the card Karin had given me, complete with all of those lovely mice!!!!

Karin is still my best friend even though we live in different cities and don't get to see each other very often.  She grew up to be an art teacher and now has a most lovely daughter who is also a very amazing artist, as is Karin's husband.  I am so thankful that she came into my life for a million different reasons, but one of them is certainly because she introduced me to art!!!

The front of my sweet Anniversary Card from Karin.

The inside with sweet little memories.

Moving on to the first tutorial I did was EmK's on Making Every Mark Count

and using all different kinds of pens and seeing what each one can do and their own unique marks that they can make.  I loved this because I just totally dig my pens and playing with them.  There is just something that some black and sometimes white ink does to a page that I am crazy about.  This first one was just a total abstract mixed media that I then came in with my pens and doodled on.  I was really happy with it and loved the process.

                   A few, but certainly not all, of my favorite pens and the ones I used on this page.               

I had done a painting of a face and then decided I wanted to add so me pen work to it. I was amazed at how easy it was to transform the face with a few simple lines strategically placed.  My once young and youthful looking gal quickly turned into an aging, worried looking woman like myself.  I continued to use the pens to add marks to the clothes and the background and this very spontaneous, unplanned out journal entry, turned into one of my all time favorites.

The next day I went back to the prompts and decided on prompt number 4:

One Line Challenge

draw without lifting your pen.

The easiest way I knew to tackle this challenge was to try a draw a simple city-scape so that is what I did.  And I literally did not lift my pen off the paper the entire time.

I went back with my Copic markers and colored in my little city-scape that was built with one line.

Next tutorial was Elizabeth's Complete a Found Image.

Here, Elizabeth encouraged us to learn to do more actual drawing in our journals.  To start, she suggested taking an image from our stacks of magazine images or any other paper images, tear it in half and then complete the other half ourselves by drawing it out using our own creativeness to complete it in any fashion.  While I am not too good at this, I had fun with it just the same.  I chose a farm scene with goats and a fence and then completed it in my own way.  I was blown away though with many of the other Get Messy Commuinty gals' pages using this technique.  There were some amazing pages created!!!!!

This little page I did in my journal is now one of my all time favorites.  Probably because it is fairly minimalist for me and understated.  I just love it and love using my Pentel Pigment Ink brush pen to draw the dadelions.  I love this pen.  It is one of my most favorites and I swear it makes me draw better than I ever thought possible.

Make a Wish and Blow Before the Wind Carries Them Away!

And lastly, I decided to take the advice from Prompt 3

Create A Practice Habit.

I also went to the recommended Brandi Kincaid's doodling class and had so much fun.

I now am trying to make a daily habit out of doodling and making doodles in my journal a way of not      forgetting  a day gone by.

This was a great week with journaling even if it was a challenge sometimes to show up.  Most importantly  I showed up everyday and for the most part found it all super helpful.

In 30 minutes I am getting ready to participate in my first Get Messy Digi Hangout and spend two hours working in my journal and chatting with lovely ladies all over the world.  So exciting!!!!!

Wishing  you all a most wonderful week.  Here in the States we turn out clocks ahead one hour so our days will be longer, with more sunlight!!!!  Spring can't be far off now!!!!!