I love to work with...

Happy Friday to all
The first quarter of 2014 is coming to an end!
This year I'm trying to find what exactly I love to do in art. For the last two years I have been trying my hand at everything: journaling, sketching, watercolors, portraits, collage, scrap booking, ... At one point I realized that I had to stop this madness and find out what I really wanted.

Have you ever asked that question to yourself? I have and I still do and each time I'm surprised to find that I need to focus and really think to get the answer for that. In my experience it is always easy for us to understand what others are good at, or even what they lack but when it comes to know what or where we are in life, we are at a loss, at least for me I still find it difficult to pinpoint and say what exactly I need to focus on especially in my artistic life.

Anyways, I have found out that these are some of the themes that I love to work with in art:

1. Art Journaling.
This year I realized that I enjoy doing Art Journaling the most. In January, for one full month I did one  page each and it never felt tiring. I find it all the more challenging when there is a prompt and new medium to experiment with.

2. Collage. I love, love doing collage pieces. There is always a curiosity and excitement to see what you have come up with in the end.

3. Faces/ Portraits
I have always been intimidated by them."It is only when you take your first step at something that you will know if you can do it or not." This is my own experience  For years I believed that I could never draw faces and never even tried to draw them. Last year I took the plunge and started drawing them and since then I have been enjoying doing different kinds of faces.

4. Watercolors
I love painting but sometimes for months I don't take my watercolors out and at other times I just love playing with them. Even simple doodles like the above one make me happy.

What do you enjoy the most when it comes to art and Why?  I would love to know.
Linking my page to Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Everyday
Thank you for being here
SusaN

T stands for Tea cup Collage

It is yet another Tuesday and I'm enjoying today's weather so much. After about 3 months we have a temperature of almost 60F today.
Thank you so much for all your interests and kind words on my tutorial with Gelatos. I forgot to mention one more thing, Gelatos are pricey but you can also use Faber Castell Gel Sticks. I think they are aimed for kids but people who have used them say there is not much difference between the two.

Do you remember this picture from a recipe book? I finally did my version and here it is:

Now I'm so obsessed with collage. Using the above sketch as an inspiration I created a collage.
This is my take for Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday

Some of the other creative things that I'm busy with are:
The 30 Days of Lists in March:
Here are three pages from it,

Of course my favorite layout is the last one that I did on the black background.

My first attempt of doing a face with pastels. I did her and glued her on my daily journal.

  Another face sketch. It is still not completed. I hope to finish her in the coming days and will share her here on Friday.
Hope you all have a great week.
Thank you for checking
Susan 

Gelli plate Art Journal Pages

Some time ago I bought a Gelli plate and spent a couple of nights experimenting. Let me tell you, it is very addictive. All that resulted in so many sheets of pattern papers and then I had to force myself to stop from adding more chaos to my art stuff. So, then I started thinking of ways to use the pattern papers and of course some of them went straight into my art journal pages. These are a few of them.

I love this page as, when I started it I had no idea about how I wanted it to turn out. You can see the gelli plate prints peeping out through the other layers on both the sides of the page. I did that watercolor flowers last year and decided to use it here. One of my handmade stamp prints can also be seen among the layers of paint. I finished it off with random words and numbers that came to my mind.   

 This is another gelli plate print that I glued to my journal. Waiting for my heart to speak and then create some loveliness here:) 

  Yet another page. This is actually three different pattern papers. I tried to create the leaf impression in two ways. Love this but you know what, I don't consider it to be complete; for me a page evolves only within a long period of time. So I'm waiting for that spark within me to come and complete it in the way I want.[I might even end it up with a quote]

Ok, now for another girl that I created. I transformed one of the canvases and added a lot of texture to it as the background. But my girl didn't turn out well. She went through a lot of  painting stages with me and I guess I just spoiled her. Still I wanted to post her here as we were together in it for many hours. I will slowly recreate this canvas but for now this is what it is.

 

Finally, a handmade book that I did yesterday night. I need to practice sketching faces and wanted a sketchbook for that. I found an awesome tutorial here, for coptic stitch binding.

It has been a long long time since I've taken my book binding supplies and was happy to learn a new binding technique.Didn't come out perfect but the book is strong and I can use it for my requirement. 

Hopefully,.this book will appear on my blog with many 'wonderful' faces.

 

Hope you all have a wonderful and creative weekend. Thank you for all the comments and support you give me. Sometimes when I feel that my art is not good enough, just reading these kind words  help me to rise up  and create more.

SusaN   
Linking this page to PPF and Art Journal Everyday

Faces

Drawing faces and figures have always scared me. The truth is that fear never allowed me to even try drawing them.
Anyway last month I signed up for Christy Tomlinson's She Art-3 class and it has helped me to take the initiative to draw faces. Now the fear is gone instead I am trying to learn how to sketch faces.

Here are some of the faces that I have tried. My very first face sketches.

Linking this post to SundaySketches
Thank you
SusaN