This is a technique I teach in my Facing Faces class - and it's very helpful for getting out of your head and any ideas you have about perfection.
I cut her out and adhered her into an altered book journal. There she sat for months, until I decided she needed a background and a story. Here's what happened.
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I've been continuing with Mindy Lacefield's #365Faces challenge on Instagram. Recently, I started creating faces on tags, which have quickly become a collection of "Tag Ladies," or "MotivAngels."
Here are five reasons why I find this practice so rewarding: 1. Confidence: The more I paint faces, the more relaxed I feel creating them. I used to have a lot of anxiety about faces - the proportions, the shading, whether they were realistic or not. With each face, I embrace more, and let go of more, and the freer I become.
2. Honing My Style: Staying on the same subject matter - faces - day after day has given me more confidence in what constitutes my style. When I look at all my ladies together, I can see "me."
3. Sparking My Creativity: I truly don't know where these ladies are coming from. I collage tags with whatever ephemera, gelli prints, old book pages, etc., are laying around. No rhyme or reason - just listening to audio books and gluing away. And then, a figure or face "appears" in the scraps, and off I go. Plus, I staying within a certain format inspires me to use my Stencil Girl Stencils and Rubbermoon Stamps in different ways.
4. Inspiration from a community: Like the 29 Faces Challenge that Ayala Art hosts 2x a year, this challenge is part of a community. Because it's on Instagram, it doesn't carry the blogging component - just paint a face, tag it, and post the picture. It's easy to search the tag and see everyone else's submissions, and hop over to see more of artists that inspire you. Just check it out!
5. Exposure to artists you might not otherwise know. We all get stuck in our circles of people whose blogs or Facebook pages we habitually visit. It's so nice to see that there are other circles out there, that we can pop in and out of. For example, I've discovered a whole bunch of artists who create amazing faces on tea bags!
I thought I'd share my process for one of my "Tag Ladies."
Do you have any favorites of the "Tag Ladies" in this blog post? Let me know in the comments, as I'll give one of these tags away! Check back on Monday to see who it is. And please leave me your email in your post, so that I can get in touch with you if I need to.
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Practicing my weakness turned it into a strength! At the start of 2016, Mindy Lacefield started an Instagram challenge called #365faces. While I haven't been able to create #afaceaday - like some of the participants, I have been creating a lot of faces! Here are some of them.
To see more, look under the hashtag #365faces on Instagram. You'll see amazing work!
Are you interested in learning more about creating faces? I've decided to share what I've learned in an online class!
My class, Facing Faces, debuts on April 4. I will have a special pre-sign up for newsletter subscribers with a discounted price - so make sure you're a subscriber!
If you haven't already - please connect with me here:
Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.
If you are entering a GIVEAWAY, please add your email address in the event I need to contact you.
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Happy New Year! I wanted to show you how I often use stencils for finishing touches in my art journal. These pics are from a new online class I'm working on, called "Facing Faces." I hope to unveil it soon!
I glued a sketch into my art journal, and began painting it. I also adhered a small embellishment I made using embossing paste and my Medallions stencil, from this tutorial (which has a video).
Here are more progress pics.
Although her face felt done, somehow, the page just didn't feel complete. I brought out the Medallions Stencil again, and laid it over the hair.
I also painted up the embellishment, and went over the stenciled area with gold paint.
She still didn't feel "done." I felt like she needed words. Seth Apter's stencils for November Stencil Club were perfect! Now she felt finished.
What do you think? Do you like her better with or without the stenciled overlay? With or without the words? Are there certain elements you feel unfinished without? I'd love to know.
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Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here.
I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.
If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletterHERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!
I had a watercolor background in my art journal, which I had painted over some doodles in white pastel, which had resisted the paint. I used the Queen Ann's Lace stencil with black over the background.
I thought about leaving it alone at this point, but instead I started using the stenciled face as a jumping off point and my muse took over. Without intending it, she became a Bedouin girl in a headscarf.
This quote from Psalm 139:14 was perfect for her:
Thank you Maria McGuire for sharing your beautiful journal page, which was my initial inspiration. Nathalie Kalbach's Batik Stencil also found it's way into this girl's outfit. I so love the wonderful community that I am part of at Stencil Girl Products, and am happy that so many artists' inspiration found their way onto this page.
This piece will form part of "The Psalm Project." Please visit my "Psalm Project" pinterest page to see my favorite Psalm quotes. And I would love if you would share some of yours in the comments.
Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here.
I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.
If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletterHERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!
