Sarah

Sarah.

I like to name my pieces. Even the little owls often have names.

With Sarah, she isn't perfect but she's an excellent start to a style I'm exploring. It's a mix of papermaking, collage, and faces. I have a long way from being where I want to be, but like I said. A solid start.

And now that I've finished the first one, I need to review a few DVDs to strengthen my technique. Clearly I'm far off from being a great portrait artist. But through constant practice, I can feel myself getting better. (yay!)

DVDs I need to review:
Jean Pederson's Wet Glazing:
Jean Pederson is a watercolor artist but she approaches the face like I'd like to with a series of washes. Also it's be good for me to see her draw a face.

Anne Bagby's The Grunge Book
Anne Bagby's third DVD is very different from her previous two. The third one isn't technique focused but rather project focused. But one things I really like about it is you see her draw a complete face. We edited very little out of the process for people who really wanted to see her put down every line. I'm ready to watch her put down every line. Drawing can feel like magic, but someone had to sculpt that face. With Anne Bagby, I can see her actually do it.

Lessons to Learn:
I should start with larger pieces of hair for the under layer. Large swaths read better.

I also need to glue down the bottom ones and work up. It feels better to have the top layers overlapping the bottom layers. That wasn't painfully clear until part way through the process.