Good Friday to you Facers! Hope you are ready for this week's share?
Show Your Face!
First up the admin...
Schedule:
In The Style Of - November 2015 (examine our favourite established artists, incorporate what they do through our own face practise)
Focus On Eyes - January 2016 (break out of our normal practice and try different styles of doing eyes such as traditional, cartoon, manga etc. As suggested by Susana Magenheimer)
Inspired By - March 2016 (pick fellow Facers to inspire our work this month)
Feel free to let me know if you have any more themes or ideas for Show Your Face.
Don't forget:
Show Your Face is a community link up for portrait work in any style or medium.
the aims are to share, learn, practise, inspire, and be inspired.
to make sure that the face artwork is yours, if you use any stamps or templates to build the face they should be designed by you.
the link is open from 10 am (BST) every Friday and stays open for a week, so link away.
finished pieces, works in progress or retro posts (i.e. older works, not from this week) are all welcome.
to link back to the link blog post here for that week.
Spread the word on your blog/social media outlets and use the #ShowYourFace hashtag in social media.
Looking For The Blog Button?
If you want to wear the blog button with pride then hop on over to Show Your Face 31st July 2015 to grab it and there are instructions on how to put it on your blog there too.
My Share This Week...
This week I've been using my warm-up exercise again to play about with face styles in thumbnails. Working with a pen in my junk journal.
Over To You...
Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media, hashtag #ShowYourFace . Please do let anyone you think would be interested in sharing their portraits know about our community here.
In The Style Of - November 2015 (examine our favourite established artists, incorporate what they do through our own face practise)
Focus On Eyes - January 2016 (break out of our normal practice and try different styles of doing eyes such as traditional, cartoon, manga etc. As suggested by Susana Magenheimer)
Inspired By - March 2016 (pick fellow Facers to inspire our work this month)
Feel free to let me know if you have any more themes or ideas for Show Your Face.
Don't forget:
Show Your Face is a community link up for portrait work in any style or medium.
the aims are to share, learn, practise, inspire, and be inspired.
to make sure that the face artwork is yours, if you use any stamps or templates to build the face they should be designed by you.
the link is open from 10 am (BST) every Friday and stays open for a week, so link away.
finished pieces, works in progress or retro posts (i.e. older works, not from this week) are all welcome.
to link back to the link blog post here for that week.
Spread the word on your blog/social media outlets and use the #ShowYourFace hashtag in social media.
Looking For The Blog Button?
If you want to wear the blog button with pride then hop on over to Show Your Face 31st July 2015 to grab it and there are instructions on how to put it on your blog there too.
My Share This Week...
Back to scribble faces for me and this week I'm working on a journal page I started way back in June/July this year. I added a bit of gesso to the colour and scribbled away with a black Derwent Graphik Line painter pen.
It is kind of fun working on a textured page as you can't quite predict how the pen is going to move.
Over To You...
Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media, hashtag #ShowYourFace . Please do let anyone you think would be interested in sharing their portraits know about our community here.
Watcha Facers! Are you ready to share your face this week?
Great! But before you do I've put together the schedule for Show Your Face for the next few months. Thanks to everyone who left their comments, votes and ideas on what you wanted to get from Show Your Face.
Schedule: Show Your Face...
In The Style Of - November 2015 (examine our favourite established artists, incorporate what they do through our own face practise)
Focus On Eyes - January 2016 (break out of our normal practice and try different styles of doing eyes such as traditional, cartoon, manga etc. As suggested by Susana Magenheimer)
Inspired By - March 2016 (pick fellow Facers to inspire our work this month)
Remember it is all optional play. The theme will run for a month and you can use the prompt on every link up that month, a couple of link-ups, or none and just link up a non-theme related face, totally up to you.
Why Every Other Month?
To keep it all relaxed and no pressure. The themes are there to nudge us out of our comfort zone, to give us a prompt to examine something we might not usually do, then give us the time to process what we have learnt through our usual art practises.
Ok, New Week, New Show Your Face Share.
Don't forget:
Show Your Face is a community link up for portrait work in any style or medium.
the aims are to share, learn, practise, inspire, and be inspired.
to make sure that the face artwork is yours, if you use any stamps or templates to build the face they should be designed by you.
the link is open from 10 am (BST) every Friday and stays open for a week, so link away.
finished pieces, works in progress or retro posts (i.e. older works, not from this week) are all welcome.
to link back to the link blog post here for that week.
Spread the word on your blog/social media outlets and use the #ShowYourFace hashtag in social media.
Looking For The Blog Button?
If you want to wear the blog button with pride then hop on over to Show Your Face 31st July 2015 to grab it and there are instructions on how to put it on your blog there too.
My Share This Week...
It has been a busy old week again this week and I haven't had time or the mojo for a full face unfortunately so I went for a bit of eye sketching practice instead.
Over To You...
Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media, hashtag #ShowYourFace and/or #ShowYourFaceInspiredBy. Please do let anyone you think would be interested in sharing their portraits know about our community here.
Feel free to send me more ideas and themes you would like to study for Show Your Face.
Hello gorgeous Facers! Here we are again, another Friday, another face!
Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment about the way forward for Show Your Face. All your votes have been counted and I will collate the ideas and get a schedule together. There is always time for more so feel free to continue to let me know what you would like to get from Show Your Face and how it can help you improve your artwork.
Ok, shall we get this party started?
Don't forget:
Show Your Face is a community link up for portrait work in any style or medium.
the aims are to share, learn, practise, inspire, and be inspired.
to make sure that the face artwork is yours, if you use any stamps or templates to build the face they should be designed by you.
the link is open from 10 am (BST) every Friday and stays open for a week, so link away.
finished pieces, works in progress or retro posts (i.e. older works, not from this week) are all welcome.
to link back to the link blog post here for that week.
Spread the word on your blog/social media outlets and use the #ShowYourFace hashtag in social media.
Looking For The Blog Button?
If you want to wear the blog button with pride then hop on over to Show Your Face 31st July 2015 to grab it and there are instructions on how to put it on your blog there too.
Right! Straight Into This Week's Share...
This week it is another rough sketch done with paint markers, I had no real aim other than a bit of play and a bit of practice.
Over To You...
Link your faces artwork, leave a comment on what you got from 'Show Your Face Inspired By' and if you would like to do it again.
I started three canvases three weeks ago. I got all excited as I thought I would enter them into a couple of art competitions that I had spotted. I find having a focus like that can be a great way to concentrate the mind. I am somewhat deadline driven after all! But the best laid plans of Mice and Kims go so terribly squiggy at times and I missed both competition deadlines in spectacular form.
I actually finished this piece a day after the deadline had passed. GO Kim! The other two pieces never got off the ground and are still sitting in a state of project beginning-ness. Mainly due to a convergence of commission deadlines, which always take priority.
All I knew when I started this piece was that I wanted to play with using gel medium to add a bit of dimension and texture to the work. I built the texture with Golden Regular gel and a palette knife then added layers of paint over the top once it was dry.
The tree came along nearer to the end. A few layers in, I realised that what I wanted was some sort of focal point and a tree felt right even if there is a lot a blue and not so much green. Although the Quinacridone Gold wash over the top does give it a slight green tinge in places and a slightly aged look that I don't think has been entirely captured in the photographs unfortunately.
I may have missed the competition deadline but I still like the resultant canvas with all its texture and it was a great learning process too.
Are you, like me, very deadline driven? Do you need a deadline to focus your mind? Or can you be productive without one?
Let's Face it! It's Friday! So come on then Show Your Face!
Hey Facers *wave*, hope you have had some wonderfully creative weeks. I have got to say I am totally blown away by all your links they just blow my mind, so keep up the good work!
Now don't forget we are in August so we are doing Show Your Face Inspired By {INSERT NAME OF A FELLOW SHOW YOUR FACER}. If you want to know why we are doing it then checkout my post from 7th August 2015 for more information.
Please make sure that:
The face artwork is yours, any stamps or templates you use to build the face should be designed by you, just as with the usual #ShowYourFace.
The person(s) inspiring your work is part of the #ShowYourFace community, but they don't have to be a regular linker.
You name the person or people that inspired your work and link to them.
You link back to the link blog post here on my blog for that week, just as with the usual #ShowYourFace.
Don't forget it is optional!
This is a no pressure linky so please feel free to carry on with your normal #ShowYourFace share if you haven't been able to do a #ShowYourFaceInspiredBy. It is just a bit of fun and if you have enjoyed it we will no doubt do it, or something similar, again.
For anyone new here, this is a regular place to come and inspire, be inspired, but above all to share our portrait progress week by week. Every Friday at 10 am (BST) a new Show Your Face blog post goes live with the linky to add your blog post or online gallery picture to with any portrait work you have been doing.
Your face can be drawn, doodled, painted, stitched, be made using any materials and can be any style, all I ask is that it is your artwork. If you use templates, stencils or stamps to build the face anatomy, then they should be ones you have made yourself and not someone else's.
Finished pieces, works in progress or retro posts (i.e. older works, not from this week) are all welcome, so come join in and spread the word on your blog/social media outlets. Use hashtag #ShowYourFace if you like!
Looking For The Blog Button?
If you want to wear the blog button with pride then hop on over to Show Your Face 31st July 2015 to grab it and there are instructions on how to put it on your blog there too.
My Share This Week...
This week I've take some inspiration from a lots of lovely facers and mixed it all together to make my #ShowYourFaceInspiredBy share.
For the style of the women I've been inspired by Lee Krek from All About Art And Me. I love the style of her sketched people with their wonderful patterned clothes, I wish I could capture her style better as it always makes me smile. I also love how she does her shading too, so I added a little bit of that in my portrait this week, but I'm not really sure it shows up in the photo.
I've drawn my portrait with a black Derwent Graphik Line Painter on an old book page, gessoed into my junk art journal. I love sketches on book pages and Julie Ann Lee from Magpieheaven always uses book pages so beautifully when she uses them in her work, so I was inspired to add a bit of book page behind my face by Julie Ann.
So that's me this week and who has been inspiring me, in a portrait nutshell, now...
Over To You...
Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media, hashtag #ShowYourFace and/or #ShowYourFaceInspiredBy. Please do let anyone you think would be interested in sharing their portraits know about our community here.
Hey Facers, I hope you have had a good week. I've been up against some tough deadlines this week so I've not yet managed to get around everyone's links from last week yet, so a MASSIVE SORRY and I hope to get around them soon.
So don't forget we are in August so we are doing Show Your Face Inspired By {INSERT NAME OF A FELLOW SHOW YOUR FACER}. If you need more information then please hop back to last week's post.
Please make sure that:
The face artwork is yours, any stamps or templates you use to build the face should be designed by you, just as with the usual #ShowYourFace.
The person(s) inspiring your work is part of the #ShowYourFace community, but they don't have to be a regular linker.
You name the person or people that inspired your work and link to them.
You link back to the link blog post here on my blog for that week, just as with the usual #ShowYourFace.
Don't forget it is optional!
This is a no pressure linky so please feel free to carry on with your normal #ShowYourFace share if you haven't been able to do a #ShowYourFaceInspiredBy. It is just a bit of fun and if you have enjoyed it we will no doubt do it, or something similar, again.
For anyone new here, this is a regular place to come and inspire, be inspired, but above all to share our portrait progress week by week. Every Friday at 10 am (BST) a new Show Your Face blog post goes live with the linky to add your blog post or online gallery picture to with any portrait work you have been doing.
Your face can be drawn, doodled, painted, stitched, be made using any materials and can be any style, all I ask is that it is your artwork. If you use templates, stencils or stamps to build the face anatomy, then they should be ones you have made yourself and not someone else's.
Finished pieces, works in progress or retro posts (i.e. older works, not from this week) are all welcome, so come join in and spread the word on your blog/social media outlets. Use hashtag #ShowYourFace if you like!
Looking For The Blog Button?
If you want to wear the blog button with pride then hop on over to Show Your Face 31st July 2015 to grab it and there are instructions on how to put it on your blog there too.
So my share for Show Your Face Inspired By is inspired by June Walker.
I love the way June uses colour in here faces. I love the way she uses hot and cold colours and how, for me, they seem to show light and shade. So I thought I would have a bit of a colour play in my art journal with my face this week. I've used Derwent Intense pencils but I've left the colours pretty loose and played with major shapes.
Over To You...
Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media, hashtag #ShowYourFace and/or #ShowYourFaceInspiredBy for those of you that use them. Please do let anyone you think would be interested in sharing their portraits know about our community here.
Welcome Facers! It is the first Friday of August so let's roll out the red carpet for Show Your Face Inspired By {Insert Name}.
Drum roll please!
Show Your Face Inspired By {INSERT NAME}
If you need a quick reminder, or you are new to our weekly share, then for the next four Fridays you have the option to either post your normal face artwork OR push out of your comfort zone, and try something inspired by one (or more) of your fellow sharers from our #ShowYourFace community.
Either option is fine but I do encourage you to try to do a #ShowYourFaceInspiredBy at least once this month.
The inspiration can be any aspect of their portrait work like how they construct their face, the materials they use, how they use colour or even how they use other elements like words or 3D objects, whatever you like. Just make sure you name them with a link to their blog (or social media gallery) in your blog post (or social media write up if you are using a gallery) and share what you were inspired by in their work.
So what is the point to Show Your Face Inspired By {Insert Name}?
The aims are to:
Give us a little kick out of our comfort zones
Try something new
Surprise ourselves!
Extend our technique / style toolboxes
Share some bloggy/ social media/ gallery love!
Oh and have fun of course!
Please make sure that:
The face artwork is yours, any stamps or templates you use to build the face should be designed by you, just as with the usual #ShowYourFace.
The person(s) inspiring your work is part of the #ShowYourFace community, but they don't have to be a regular linker.
You name the person or people that inspired your work and link to them.
You link back to the link blog post here on my blog for that week, just as with the usual #ShowYourFace.
Don't forget it is optional!
This is a no pressure linky so please feel free to carry on with your normal #ShowYourFace share if you haven't been able to do a #ShowYourFaceInspiredBy. It is just a bit of fun and if you have enjoyed it we will no doubt do it, or something similar, again.
Show Your Face Blog Badge
Don't forget that we have a blog badge for Show Your Face is you want to grab it:
My Show Your Face Share this week...
For my Show Your Face Inspired By I've taken inspiration from three lovely folks Susana Magenheimer, Giggles and Beverley Baird to produce this miniature face art work.
Susana Magenheimer from Random Artist 222's inspired me to go miniature as she loves miniature art and after a conversation in Instagram we ended up foolishly agreeing to trying a 2" x 2" artwork with a face. Eek! So I attempted the smallest art journal page that I have ever done for this week's share. She is sketched in pencil on a scrap of paper from a watercolour background.
The words cut from newspapers were inspired by both Giggles from Happy Tiler and Beverley Baird from Bunny's Girl as I've noticed they often use cut-out words in their artwork and I really like that look so I thought I would try to incorporate it in my work this week to finish my nano-art journal page.
Over To You...
Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media, hashtag #ShowYourFace and/or #ShowYourFaceInspiredBy for those of you that use them. Please do let anyone you think would be interested in sharing their portraits know about our community here.
Guess what day it is? Yep! It is Faceday and I was thinking we have been doing this since around April so it is about time that we had a blog badge, what do you think?
Well, here it is, please feel free to grab the code from the box under the badge to put it on your blog to tell the world you are sharing your face with a group of like minded folk:
It links straight back to the Show Your Face posts so that you can find them easily.
Right, who is up for a Face share?
For anyone new here this is a regular place to come and inspire, be inspired, but above all to share our portrait progress week by week. Every Friday at 10 am (BST) a new Show Your Face blog post goes live with the linky to add your blog post or online gallery picture to with any portrait work you have been doing. Your face can be drawn, doodled, painted, stitched, be made using any materials and can be any style, all I ask is that it is your artwork. If you use templates, stencils or stamps to build the face anatomy, then they should be ones you have made yourself and not someone else's. Finished pieces, works in progress or retro posts (i.e. older works, not from this week) are all welcome, so come join in and spread the word on your blog/social media outlets. Use hashtag #ShowYourFace if you like!
I'm sharing another sketch this week, I seem to be stuck in face-sketch-mode at the moment but I'm really enjoying them.
She is sketched in a white pen, a Signo Uni-ball, on a painted black page from my junk journal.
So that is my share for the week, now...
Over To You...
Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media, hashtag #ShowYourFace for those of you that use them. Please do let anyone you think would be interested in sharing their portraits know about our community here.
Don't forget - During August Art It Friday - Show Your Face will become Show Your Face Inspired By {Insert Name} learn more about it from my 10th July 2015 blog post.
Thank Faces It's Friday and time to Show Your Face!
For anyone new here this is a regular place to come and inspire, be inspired, but above all to share our portrait progress week by week. Every Friday at 10 am (BST) a new Show Your Face blog post goes live with the linky to add your blog post or online gallery picture to with any portrait work you have been doing. Your face can be drawn, doodled, painted, stitched, be made using any materials and can be any style, all I ask is that it is your artwork. If you use templates, stencils or stamps to build the face anatomy, then they should be ones you have made yourself and not someone else's. Finished pieces, works in progress or retro posts (i.e. older works, not from this week) are all welcome, so come join in and spread the word on your blog/social media outlets. Use hashtag #ShowYourFace if you like!
After the fun I had with scribbles last week I had originally thought I would do another scribble face for my share this week. But what actually came into being was this lady.
She isn't quite scribbles more like long strokes of a pen with a bit of scribble.
Over To You...
Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media, hashtag #ShowYourFace for those of you that use them. Please do let anyone you think would be interested in sharing their portraits know about our community here.
Don't forget - During August Art It Friday - Show Your Face will become Show Your Face Inspired By {Insert Name} learn more about it from my 10th July 2015 blog post.
Ok, so you have a lovely new art journal / sketch book / notebook and it is all shiny and new, you don't want to touch it, right? Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about because I KNOW you do!
Well you need some quick, go-to exercises to help you break into that lovely new book don't you?
I'm sharing three of my favourite tips on the Blitsy Blog today and I would just love it if you popped over, had a look then shared your favourite tricks below the post, I'm so interested to see what everyone does! Thanks!
Also if you go over toBlitsy now they have 60% off any one regular price item to celebrate the 4th of July. So the next question is, what are you gonna buy?!
Catch you later Art-inators
Kim
ps. I do use affiliated links for my blog but only to things I buy myself and from shops that I love. There are some affiliated links in this blog post and if you want to know more about my affiliate policies then check out my Disclosures and Disclaimers.
Hey Facers, it is that time again. Let's get our share on shall we?
For anyone new here this is a regular place to come and inspire, be inspired, but above all to share our portrait progress week by week. Every Friday at 10 am (BST) a new Show Your Face blog post goes live with the linky to add your blog post or online gallery picture to with any portrait work you have been doing. Your face can be drawn, doodled, painted, stitched, be made using any materials and can be any style, all I ask is that it is your artwork. If you use templates, stencils or stamps to build the face anatomy, then they should be ones you have made yourself and not someone else's. Finished pieces, works in progress or retro posts (i.e. older works, not from this week) are all welcome, so come join in and spread the word on your blog/social media outlets. Use hashtag #ShowYourFace if you like!
I will kick off this week's share with a shout out to Julie Ann Lee from Magpie Heaven. A couple of weeks or so ago I shared a little face drawing warm-up exercise with the doodling different faces in lots of boxes of colour on your page. Do you remember?
Well Julie Ann took that exercise, ran with it and made it entirely her own with this fabulous art that she shared with us on the 19th June 2015.
Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media, hashtag #ShowYourFace for those of you that use them. Please do let anyone you think would be interested in sharing their portraits know about our community here.
I feel the need to come clean with you. It took me ages to write this blog post, at least a couple of days. Crazy, right? Why did it take me so long? Why was I angsting so much about it? Well, let me tell you of my dilemma at the moment.
As I am teaching myself to work creatively, I have come to realise that part of my process is to go through a period of time when I am unhappy with what I produce. I often think of it as a period of chaos or like walking through a Chaos Jungle.
Quite often nothing I do whilst working through this chaos makes me entirely happy. It is more than the usual analysis of my work to see where I can improve. It feels like something inside me is trying to break out but I just don't know what. No analogies to the films Alien or the Thing please, I need to sleep at night!
But what I have found from working at this for a few years now is that these periods of making things that I don't like usually come just before I make some sort of a breakthrough in my skill level or in my understanding of a particular aspect of my practice.
You may very well have found this happening to you too, but perhaps you haven't recognised it? Or perhaps you have and felt that it was just something you alone went through? Or maybe you are fully in touch with this part of your creativity, in which case I congratulate you wholeheartedly on being so well attuned to yourself, well done!
Whatever the case, don't worry – going through a period of chaos before a breakthrough is not an uncommon part of the creative cycle.
In fact, rejoice! You are on the precipice of a new aspect of your creative life!
Unfortunately, there is no time frame for this period and you could be on the precipice looking out to your future Land Of Creative Joy for the next 10 minutes or for several years to come. But, hey, it will be worth it!
How Do You Get Through The Chaos Jungle?
1. Be kind to yourself! Foremost in this period of chaotic unknown is to acknowledge the self-doubt but don't allow it to take hold of you. So don't believe it. OK it is there, it is an aspect of you but it does not define you. This is important! Self-doubt is CRIPPLING and will stop you from reaching your next level, whatever that level is.
You may have your own coping mechanisms for self-doubt but for me personally I have found that I can not ignore it – telling it to shut up doesn't make it go away, it just makes it worse. It has taken me a while to get to this point but I have come to realise that I need to recognise the self-doubt, acknowledge it, then reason with it, explain to it why it is wrong, give it examples of how its view of the world is somewhat skewed.
It takes constant practise not to give in to self-doubt and there are no easy fixes for this one, I'm afraid, but you need to try because the next tip to making it through the jungle of creative chaos (sounds like an interesting holiday resort!) is:
2. Don't give up. Work through it however long it takes. Turn up at your workdesk and work, work, work work! If you want to jump off that precipice into your creative future, then do something towards it every day. Whatever your creative thing is, from art journaling to cardmaking, get something made, or at least partly made, every day even if you only have 10 minutes to spare.
3. Talk about it! Don't bottle it up inside. One thing about working as a creative, particularly a freelance one, is that you are often working on your own. This is where having someone you trust, who can understand the ups and downs, to talk to is invaluable. So grab a coffee, tea, glass of wine or whatever your favourite tipple is and talk, email, message your arty, crafty or other trusty friends and loved ones. No doubt they have been through it too.
There are times when it is easy and there are times when it is most definitely not but I can tell you, here and now that
YOU can do it!
But why did it take me so long to write this blog post, what was my dilemma?
Well, I am going through my own personal Chaos Jungle right now, I bought a packed lunch, I might be here some time. But as an Artist, Crafter, Blogger (it is in my bio, it must be true), there is a constant pressure to provide quality content, beautiful things, or at least something inspirational that you as my reader will want to have a go at even if you don't like how I did it.
But this pressure to make beautiful things is even harder when you are traipsing through the Chaos Jungle. So as part of my being kind to myself strategy, I am owning up to the chaos, I'm embracing it and revelling in it and if you are going through a similar thing I want you to do the same.
Come with me on this trip and put our trust in the fact that on the other side there is a breakthrough to Creative Joy!
Please do feel free to share any thoughts you have on Chaos Jungles or the land of Creative Joy, they are all welcome.
But please do not feel you need to give me an ego boost or leave positive comments about my work, I'm embracing my trip through the jungle. I just wanted to put to words something that many of us go through in the hope that it might help you, either now or at some later point, if you feel a bit lost and aren't sure why!
