Making Faces

I love a crazy, fun workshop in summer.  I just want to loosen up and play.  I found the perfect one in Lynn Whipple's Making Faces class.  It's offered online through Carla Sonheim's site.  Lynn is so playful and creative, it's impossible not to get into the spirit.  The whole point is to work quickly, loosen up, experiment and produce a mass of faces.  I still have one lesson to go but already have piles of them.

 Some are bigger and some are small little 4x5" ones.

Lynn gives some instruction on realistic placement of features and shadows, and we refer back to that, but the whole idea is to experiment.  We did drawing while switching media.

Worked in all neutrals.

Mixed shadow drawings with loose painterly ones.

 Cut and reassembled many faces.

Worked on patterned backgrounds.

Created different personalities.

Went wild with mixing and matching elements.

Added magazine features and patterns.

I don't think I'll do a thing with all these faces, but I had a blast making them.  It was a really fun way to loosen up and explore all sorts of media.  I highly recommend the class!

Delicate Souls

I have been busily finishing up pieces for our Dec. show. I decided to take some of my favorite faces from my 2 weeks of face experiments starting here, and turn them into finished pieces. I'm calling this my "Delicate Soul" series since they all feel very gentle to me. I've been framing them in fragile fabrics full of soft frays and giving them just a line of text as it comes to me while I'm working on them.

I'm thrilled with the hanging device I came up with. I stitch a clear straw on the back and thread a string through it for hanging. It keeps the piece feather weight yet gives it support at the top. You can barely see it here, which is why I'm so happy with it.

If you are interested in art journaling, Paula has a very fun art journaling zine giveaway over here.

Faces of Mexico

Lots of inspiring faces around San Miguel.

And a few from my journal pages. These lovelies were part of the extensive artwork in the house we stayed in:

And these were from one of my favorite spots-- Casa de la Cuesta, a private mask museum:

Face #14

What if I use single threads, cross-hatch style like colored pencil?

This wasn't quite what I had in mind. It got too fussy as I started building up layers, so I decided to try to keep it simple. Need to play around with this technique more.

I have guests staying with me for a week, then a trip to Seattle, so this will be the end of the faces, at least for a while. I really enjoy working in a series like this. It seems for every one I do, I get two new ideas for more. Thanks for following along!

Face #13

What if I piece a background out of printed silks, then machine embroider from the back side?

I didn't like the stark white area so put a printed sheer on top. Didn't love the line from the machine stitching, so I hand embroidered to get more variety in it:

Too much going on, so I toned some of the background down with white patches:

Face #12

What if I start with a painted line drawing and fill in color book style?

This one was challenging. I tried to fill in all the way with color, but it became too much. I finally decided to keep part of it sketchy and was much happier with it.

Someone asked me what I'm going to do with all these faces. I have no plans at all. I'm just enjoying experimenting and will probably come back to work with favorites later. But maybe not.

Face #11

What if I build up features sculpturally using white on white?

I wanted to keep this light and transparent to integrate it with the background, but it does tend to disappear. I'd like to try it again on a dark background.

Face #10

What if I try hand embroidery on top of the pieced background?

I experimented with using 1, 3, 4 and 6 strands of floss to get some different line weights. I love what happened on the back, especially those little running stitches:

Working from the back side will definitely be a future "what if"!

Faces 8, 9

A new direction. What if I start with a patched background?

I found fabrics with lots of white in them, hoping the face would show up better that way. This ended up reminding me of my Mom's old hankies:

First--What if I machine stitch directly on it?

I had to fight the print so much that it ended up being overworked. Sometimes, though, I think the ones that don't work are more useful than the ones that do. This led me to thinking of all sorts of other approaches to using a pieced background.

What if I do the face on sheers and attach? Since I had Face #7 on organza sitting here, I attached it on top and left it floating on the bottom. I had a bit of text "She likes to float" left over from my little boat piece a while back and it seemed to belong there.

Face #7

What if I reduce it down as simply as possible and just add a few stitches of color to a line drawing?

Not nearly as dramatic as the last one, but may have its place in a quiet corner. This technique was inspired by seeing the back of face #6. I like the looser rambling hand stitches here:

End of my one week challenge already--that went fast! I'm having too much fun to stop, so will continue til I hit a wall.

Face #6

What if I simplify my approach from yesterday to allow some of the white and line drawing to show?

Face #4

What if I start with a line drawing done on machine and add sheers like a watercolor wash?

Face (s) #3

What if I make the features in separate pieces then mix them up Mr. Potato Head style?

They pop on a neutral potato:

What if I put them on more energetic backgrounds?

What if I can't stop making these to try the next What If?