Art Journal page using Jane Davenport Fabulous Figures book and Beautiful faces book

I have for some time been in awe of the beautiful faces and "girls" that Jane Davenport creates.

I ordered her Beautiful Faces Book and her Fabulous Figures Book and I'm so glad I did.

I don't draw well, but faces and figures are the worst for me so I decided to purchase these two books to see if they would help me learn to quickly and easily draw the female face and form.

I'm quite happy with this attempt.  I was watching one of her youtube videos where she shows how she draws with prisma colored pencils and I thought I would give it a go, although I have no colored pencils if you can believe it!!

I have prisma watercolor pencils and polychromo pencils so I thought I would do a couple of tests to see if I could come up with the same results by using what I had.

Here are the faces I completed and I've written on the journal what I used for each figure.

...Chanel, ...her favorite pair of jeans What a girl wants Art journal page

I belong to a facebook group called Maremi's Creative Cafe and there was a lady on there who took one of her paintings and traced it onto fabric, added stitching on her sewing machine and then colored them in and added to purses.

I was so totally impressed with her work I asked her if I could use her idea of putting an original painting of mine to fabric and she said she was fine.  Check out the beautiful purses, pin cushions, and eyeglass cases that she makes.  They are truly lovely.  You can find her in the Cafe under Lupe Catts.

I used one of my paintings and traced it onto muslin (the female torso in jeans, flower, chanel bag and ugg boot) (a thickness of three pieces of muslin)  I stitched around the pieces and added details with my sewing machine and then colored the fabric pieces with watercolor.  After the fabric pieces had dried, I then heat set them with an iron.

I have a tutorial on my blog (under the tutorial heading for a fanny pack that I made using the same technique.

Here is my art journal page using this tecnique:

Speak Softly But carry a big can of paint mixed media journal page

For this Art journal page I wet the page and then added watercolor to begin the background.  I had already decided that I wanted to use circles on this page so using two different circle stencils I added circles using my distress inks.

I cut out three banners with my Silhouette die cutting machine which I then used for my title adding faux stitching with my sakura micron pen in black.  I also used a stencil to trace my XYZ letters and fussy cut them out and then used my watercolors to color them.

Mini Cooper and Cooper Clubman Wish list journal page

The first time I really got a good look at the Mini Cooper was on my first trip to London and I was in love.  I have always wanted a mini cooper but it really wasn't a practical car for us because you really cannot carry any passengers.

I created this journal page in pen and ink with a watercolor wash as sort of a wish upon a star kinda thing, LOL!  We have a honda accord which I love, nothing wrong with it except this model is sooooo big and I hate parking it especially if it is parallel parking.

Much to my surprise and delight, my husband surprised me with this little beauty and to say I am in love is an understatement!!

Graffiti Art Journal page "Live, Love, Laugh

This is one of my favorite Journal pages.  I wanted to incorporate some graffiti words (that you could actually read, LOL!!) 

I drew them out on a piece of watercolor paper and then colored them with my watercolors.  For the "O" in love I made it a bomb and attached a short piece of twine for the wick (is that the right word?).

I used various stamps and stencils with my distress inks and oxide inks and created the background then added my title with some dimensional foam squares and then added black around the letters with my black charcoal pencil and paynes gray watercolor.

"Live Full the Life you have imagined" Mixed Media Art Journal page

For this Art Journal page I wanted to use the stamp set that I have that has the quote "Live Full the life you have imagined" because I love that quote.

So for this page I used text paper torn from an old paperback, texture paste and a stencil, then lightly added touches of white gesso.  I also added glass beads paste from Liquitex, a heart die cut and Star Diecuts from Sizzix.  Then I colored the page with watercolors in purple and paynes gray.  I added a music note charm and a love charm with metallic thread.  I stamped out the title, cut it out and adhered that to the page.

Just give me flowers and the sea Mixed Media Art Jornal Page

Two of my favorite things (and the two things I think that most people who know me would say they know about me) is that I love the ocean and I love flowers.

This journal page was inspired by my love of the ocean and my love of the flowers.  It is a mixed media piece using color crush granules/powder, an Altenew Stamp for the 3D flowers.  A Jane Davenport stencil and texture paste for the other flowers.

"Hair" Art journal page

Have you ever just been going about your business and seen something, or someone, or something about someone that prompted you to go home and journal about it?

Well, I did.  I was out and about and was on my way in to the grocery store to pick up a few things and I saw a woman with the most gorgeous head of hair I had ever seen.  

It was so thick and so heavy and so wavy that I couldn't believe my eyes.  She had subtle highlights in it and I just couldn't wait to get home to try to journal about her hair.  I don't think I really did her justice but it is close.

I started out with a base of watercolor and then added detail with watercolor pencils and polychromo pencils.

Battlescars Art Journal Page, Mixed Media

For this Art Journal page I was feeling a little down and a little beat up from some incidents that had happened in my life lately.

I wanted to do a page in tribute to the "Battlescars" that we all have, no one is immune.  I finally realized you should wear them with pride.  All of the knocks you take make you who you are so here is my tribute page to all of us carrying around our battlescars:

Mixed Media Art Journal page in my Jane Davenport Butterfly Journal

In my Jane Davenport butterfly journal I created this two page journal spread titled Artful, with watercolor, distress inks, faux stitching stamp, and the circles were made with the lid from a jar.  I then scribbled on the page with black charcoal pencil.

Stacked Art Journal page

For this Art Journal Page I wanted to create 3 pages that stacked on top of each other that flowed from one page into the next and this is what I came up with.  I tried to use the same colors and line my stencils up from one page to the next so that they look like one page when viewing from page 1 if that makes sense.

Here they are stacked on top of each other:

Now here is page 1:

Here is page 2:

Here is page 3:

Art Journal Page with help from Jane Davenport's Beautiful Faces Book

If you are like I am and struggle to draw, well, anything especially faces and bodies, you would love the Jane Davenport Books.  Beautiful faces was the first one that I bought and I just purchased Fabulous figures.  They are so helpful when teaching yourself how to draw faces and bodies.  She has another book that I have not been able to afford yet and that is titled Whimsical Girls.  She also sells them on Amazon but I am in Australia (and thank goodness so is she!!) so much cheaper to get them here.  Also, much to my surprise and delight she signed my Fabulous Figures book before sending it out to me.

These are a few of my Art Journal pages I did utilizing her beautiful faces book to draw my girls.  I was very happy with them.

A new Art Journal page for the Jane Davenport's Washi Tape challenge and giveaway

I belong to the Jane Davenport facbook group and she is having a giveaway and the only rules are you have to do some sort of mermaid and you have to incorporate one or some of her washi tapes on the page.  On my page her washi tape is used in the hair of the large mermaid and the face of the small mermaid is from her washi tape.  Here is my entry into the giveaway:

New Watercolor of a Butterfly titled "Transformed"

I decided I wanted to try my hand at a butterfly pen and ink with a watercolor wash.  I wanted to have a lost edge somewhere so decided to leave the left edge of the wing to fade into the background.

I used bold, bright colors of Orange, red orange, lime green, yellow and a touch of blue.

What I find that is the easiest for me to do is to draw a 5X7 rectangle on a scratch piece of paper.  Then draw my image within the rectangle so I know where I want the placement of my image.  Then I scribble graphite onto the back of the image, line the rectangle up with my 5X7 watercolor paper, and then using a stylus, I trace over my image and transfer it to my watercolor paper.  That saves me from erasing on my watercolor paper and disturbing the fibers.

All of my artwork is for sale on my facebook page #DKJartoriginals

Shinhan Professional Water Color Review

I decided to do a review of ShinHan Professional Water Colors.  First of all let me say I am a definite novice, beginner, self-taught watercolorist.  Secondly, I have a very limited budget to spend on my art supplies.

I do scrapbooking, cardmaking, additional crafts such as making wreaths when I need one, fabric crafts, I LOVE doing counted cross stitch and then about 4 years ago, my husband and I took a cruise on the Queen Elizabeth and I took the watercolor class onboard and I was hooked.

In the class you can buy the "kit" they offer if you do not have your own watercolor and watercolor paper.  

I did not have any so I bought the kit which included the tiny Winsor and Newton travel palette of watercolors with the little brush.  It contains 12 basic colors.  I painted for a couple of years using this same palette as I bought a few more on additional cruises.

When I was running low on watercolors, I priced replacing my Winsor and Newton set with the tube paints and was shocked at the prices of all of the name brand paints here in Australia.

Sooooo, long story short, I went to ebay and purchased the ShinHan Professional Watercolor set and have never looked back.  I love them.  My only complaint is all of their browns have a reddish tint.  There is no true Burnt Umber (in my opinion) but I mix it a bit with paynes gray and get a color I am happy with.  I've also purchased a metal palette that holds 39 colors so I have the option of adding a few more colors of other name brands if I choose.

I hope this helps if you are thinking of purchasing this set of watercolors.

A new watercolor just completed of a pair of Ladybugs titled "Lady Luck Too"

Have you ever had one of those days when you see something or you go somewhere and the inspiration hits you to paint something?  Well, that's what happened to me today.  This is being done for the Doodlewash April 2018 challenge - paint something you loved as a kid.

I happened to be in the garden at our house and I had a ladybug land on  my arm.  I love ladybugs.  The are so brilliantly colored and those distinctive black spots so perfectly shaped on their backs always amazes me.  

I was told as a child that if one lands on you, you should hold perfectly still, make a wish and then let it fly off and your wish will come true.  LOL, well I am not sure that is true but I still get great pleasure out of them landing on me.

So, long story short, I decided to paint a ladybug (or two) in watercolor.

I have to be honest though, this painting started out as a 5X7 and I hated the bottom two inches of it so much I cut it off to make it a 5X5.  I show it as an example in a 9X9 frame with a mat.  I'm particularly happy with the leaves on this.  I wanted the blue background to be more opaque so I painted it with white gouache and then dropped in indigo and green and let them mix on the painting.  I love the effect.

"Original Watercolor painting titled "Flamingo Rising"

I decided I wanted to do a watercolor painting of a Flamingo.  If the Flamingo spirit animal appears in your life, it means it's time to turn to your emotions and use them.  Whatever you do, you should follow your heart because it will help you choose the right way.  I named this watercolor "Flamingo Rising" .  I wanted to use bold bright colors as if the Flamingo were rising from the flames.  I started the background first with several washes of bold colors and painted the flamingo in colors of red, fluorescent pink and flaming orange, leaving touches of white.

This is also a 5X7 and fits in an 8X10 frame with a mat.  It is painted on 140lb/300gsm premium watercolor paper.  All of my paintings are for sale on my facebook page DKJartoriginals

Cyclamen pen and Ink watercolor times 2

I decided that I wanted to do a pen and ink watercolor of a fuchsia colored Cyclamen.  I had never seen one before and on our first trip to London, I saw them in window boxes everywhere.  At first I thought they were fake flowers because it was so cold and they were so stunning and perfect.  I saw some in window boxes outside of a pub and finally went in and asked them what type of flower they were because, spending most of my youth and adulthood in Virginia, for some reason, I had never seen any grown there.  

Anyway, I wanted to try my hand at painting them.  The above photo does not do the painting justice as I scanned it and the scanner did not seem to pick up the beautiful fuchsia color well.  The framed photo below is what it actually looks like.  This is a 5X7 and fits in an 8X10 frame with a mat.  It is painted on 90lb/190gsm premium watercolor paper.

Ok, so now I have a fuchsia colored Cyclamen and I wasn't sure if I was happy with it or not, so I decided to do something different with the same drawing - I'm not sure this would be considered an abstract, but it is definitely different.  I decided to put a triangle in the center and only paint what was inside the triangle.  The rest I just left my pen and ink drawing.  I'm not sure what I think about it, the jury is still out!  And again the scan of it does not show the true color of the fuchsia I used but the framed photo does.  This also is a 5X7 and fits in an 8X10 frame with a mat.  It is painted on 90lb/190gsm premium watercolor paper.  All of my paintings are for sale on my facebook page DKJartoriginals.

Thank you for looking!

Mixed Media Canvas Fanny Pack

I had an old fanny pack just gathering dust - I think it was probably 20 years ago that I might have bought this.  Back when I was doing tole painting.  I decided to do something with it.  I had drawn and painted some faces following Jane Davenport's Beautiful Faces Book in my journal.

I decided that I wanted to do a mixed media piece with it so this is what I ended up doing.  I traced the paintings of the "ladies", scanned them and then reduced their size.  I then traced them onto Muslin and went to my sewing machine to sew in all of the details.

Here I show what they looked like and then I applied watercolor paints to give them life!

I then trimmed around each one and placed them between two sheets of baking paper and heat set them.

This is what all three looked like after heat setting:

This is the canvas fanny pack that I had.  It was not pre-primed so I primed it with gesso, added some Liquitex modeling paste through a stencil that I have from Decoart Americana ASMM39-K Short Circuit stencil and added some Indigo and some green watercolor for the background.  I also added some Ranger Jet Black archival ink through my mini "Art Is" stencil from Crafter's workshop.  There are some touches of Mango oxide inks from Tim Holtz as well.  I thought these colors would compliment my ladies!

 I then decided I needed a pop of black so I stitched on some black twine. 

 After I had added the black twine, I decided I need to add some beading and I wanted vines/leaves and flowers so I found a video on youtube showing how to make these flowers and this long winding leafy vine here by Jill Wiseman called Ramblin' Roses and I thought it was stunning so decided to give it a try - here is an image of the vine so far:    

Once the length of the vine was established and I had an idea of the placement on the bag, I decided to finish the vine and add the leaves.  Once I had completed the vine and roses, I layed them on my bag with the Ladies and took a photo so that I could remember the placement when I stitched everything on.  Here is an image of the placement I decided on:

After I was happy with the placement, I lightly traced around the ladies and took everything off.  I put fabric glue on the back of the muslin keeping away from the edges because I knew I would be reinforcing them with stitching.  Then I added some organza and netting bits behind each image, stitched on the vines and flowers and tacked down the images around the edges.  

These are images of the finished design:

Thank you so much for taking a look!