Linda Israel

Multi-Media Artist

So my friends you’ve gone and done it to me now. I’m on a drawing kick.. I’ve been trying to draw something every day. I decided to look around on the web yesterday for images for inspiration and found an image of Hayden Panettiere that I liked. She had her hands on her hips and I thought it was kind of sassy. So taking a little artistic license I used that image as an inspiration to create a drawing.

Hayden was wearing a T-Shirt and shorts in the photo but I decided to have my girl wearing a dress. I’m still working on refining her look. But I want to use an image like this for a couple of projects I have in mind…

I see images differently now. I’m looking at the shadows that the light creates. I’m seeing things that I didn’t see before and I’m learning.

What have you learned lately about the world around you? Have you found a way to incorporate what you see into your art? It is never too late to learn something new. Just decide what it is you want to do, and before you know it you have gone and done what you want to do that is new!

Since I’ve been using the Lee Hammond’s Big Book of Drawing, I’m learning a lot about drawing. The ATC challenge for the OFB ATC group for the past two weeks were Peace and Eyes. Because I’ve been so busy with “life” I didn’t have the time I wanted to spend to make the original cards I had in mind.

So I decided to make hand drawn cards for both of these themes. I cut watercolor paper to the proper ATC size of 2.5 by 3.5 inches. Then I set about drawing the eyes using the techniques I’ve learned from the book and another source. http://willowing.ning.com/group/theheartofart Tammy has a free course she offered in October 2010 that taught people how to heal through their art. I found some great tips in her online course. So I combined some of the information from the book and from Tammy’s class to make my first hand drawn eye’s ATC.

I used a Faber-Castel 2B drawing pencil, liquitex, prismacolor colored pencils and Faber-Castell PITT artist pen to finish the eye drawing.

The Peace ATC I used a Steadtler compass to draw a circle then a second circle inside. The I used a Faber-Castel 2B drawing pencil to draw the inside lines to complete the peace symbol. Next I pulled out my liquitex colored pencils and started filling in the colors that I thought would look good on the peace symbol and around the outside. I used a small tortillion to blend the colors.

Both of these cards were very easy to make. A lot easier than I thought it would be, since these were both hand drawn cards. I guess I have had so many years of fear bottled up keeping me from drawing that now that I’m letting go of those fears and letting my hands draw it is easier for me.

Don’t let your fears keep you from doing something you have always dreamed of doing. Learn that new thing, go on a trip you have dreamed about for years. It will take some work to make the dream happen, but it will be worth every step you take.

So what are the fears that are keeping you from doing what you have always dreamed of doing?

Recently I have become friends with an online community that has a passion for art journaling. Well over a month ago when I was a guest artist on Jonathan Manning’s (AKA Blade) show, I was asked to draw a cat. I was very nervous about drawing a cat, as I had never drawn one before! But the online community gave me the courage to draw a cat that night!

Reflecting back, I have not been a person who drew. Maybe a little when I was a child. When I was in High School I took one semester of Art and while I was in that class I didn’t get a lot of encouragement. I have always been a crafter, someone that would make something out of various items, but not a person who could draw.

So on Saturday I was in the local hobby supply Lee Hammond’s Big Book of Drawing, I also picked up a sketch journal.

Last night I started reading the first few pages of the book, where the book teaches how to use graphing and then goes into shading.

One of the projects was to practice blending a sphere. I didn’t have the suggested pencil so I used a charcoal pencil – soft and I didn’t have the Tortillion for blending so I used a paper towel wrapped around a paint brush.

While this is my first attempt at drawing, I think I did pretty good!

My word of enCOURAGEment to you; go ahead pick up the paint brush, colored pencils, sewing needle, etc and create. It is never too late to learn something new. If you have the desire to learn you will find a way to succeed. If I can find drawing courage you can find the courage you need for anything you want to try.

What new artistic endeavor will you try? Please feel free to share with me.

Aspire to be Amazing!

Linda

The challenge for this ATC was to have a White Background. So really this was an open theme and any art could be used on the card.

The weather in Oklahoma is turning nice. The sun is out and it is getting warmer. When that happens it makes me think back to when I was a kid and mom would have us hang the laundry out on the clothes line to dry. I loved how the clothes would smell when we took the clothes down. It also saved money to dry the clothes outside! lol

Thinking about the good old days made me want to create that same feeling on my ATC.

Watch the following video to see how the card was made.

What does this sunny weather remind you of from your youth? If you could do something that  you used to do as a kid what would that activity be that you would do today?

Thanks for stopping by my site.

Aspire to be Amazing!

Linda