Artistic Journey

If you know me outside of this blog or have been reading here for a while, you may know that over the last couple of years I have got into Art Journaling.  For someone who grew up believing she was no good at art, this was a big deal.  In fact, there is a friend who was kind of doing this before me who can relate a conversation I had with here where I said categorically I could NEVER do anything like that!  6 months later as I was showing her my art journal, she just smiled and didn't say a word of "I told you so."

I convinced myself that Art journaling was just having fun with paint and ink, pens and stamps, paper and glue etc and that if that constituted art then I could produce art!  But still, if you asked me to draw anything then NO, I was certain I could not do that.

Sometime in that journey I decided to have a go at a face.  My first attempt wasn't all bad, there are some things I like about her, but seriously, it was obvious I had a lot to learn.

I tried again later on,

but then got sidetracked from any sort of art journaling at all and didn't do anything for a good 3 or 4 months.  There were a few other faces along the way, some of which I was incredibly proud of and some of which made me wonder if I would ever "Get it".

Then I heard about Tam's 12 month art class for 2012 over on her ning site.  £60 for at least 2 classes each month for 12 months, with extra classes thrown in here and there.  As a Christian I was a little apprehensive about some of the spiritual aspects of the course, BUT I am certain that I can take from it what I need to take from it, learn lots, stretch myself and have a great time doing it, without compromising anything I believe.

For that £60 price tag you also get to do one of Tam's other classes that are self paced on the Ning Site.  I chose her Fabulous Faces class, something I had been thinking about treating myself to anyway, before the year long class came along.  While we have to wait until January for the main class, this one I could start now.  I have not been feeling well for a few days now, and decided today that I would take the afternoon a bit easier, and sit and watch the first video and give it a go.

We have our laptop set up on a desk on the treadmill, so I angled the screen right that I would be able to see it from the sofa, set the volume up, and set the video to play full screen.  I had a few interruptions at various times, but finally produced this:

Although I think I prefer her before I did the hair.  Hmmm, wonder if I can learn to paint bald women, heehee, and would anyone want to look at them?

Well, that's it for today, but please come back soon if you want to see where else this journey takes me.