WOYWW #442: One Eyed Challenges (#PASC1117)

It's Wednesday, and time for another adventure with my fellow deskers.

For more WOYWW fun, you can head for the hub of the fun over at the blog of our fearless leader, Julia Dunnit HERE.

Some of my fellow deskers already have some idea as to the challenges I've continued to face since the optic nerve to my left eye malfunctioned at the end of summer of this year. Many of you have continued to boost my morale with kind comments. That's really been lovely, and I want to say a fond Thank You now for your recent kindness towards me. As I haven't been able to comment to your posts as much as I used to, such generosity has genuinely touched me.

One thing I keep discovering: my eyesight's strength has had either worse or better days. A better day was when I tried doing a man's face. That was 2 posts ago. I risked the strength of both my eyesight and my morale that time by trying something that I'd never done before: a full color painted sketch of an old portrait. 

Most days have not been as easy for my eyesight as that day was. All of it is tough to get used to in that I need to be constantly vigilant of how my eyes happen to be doing. I'm forgivably clumsy at times when there's delicacy required. Such challenges have often put a damper on my mood. I'm learning how not to lose patience with the whole situation as well as how to content myself with what CAN be done each time that I attempt something. 

Junk Journals offer unique challenges, too, especially in the area of materials used in the building of any junk journal. This one has a tendency to buckle at times, so I've had to use a curly paper clip whilst taking this week's photo. 

This time, I'm trying the November Pick a Stick Challenge, the prompts for which may be found by following the link HERE.  

The challenge calls for making a pocket. I've opted to make a folded paper bag pocket out of a sheet of deli paper to which I added one of the pretty embellished papers which Win Dinn sent me recently for our paper trade. The diagonal phrase I cut from a newspaper, while the other two collaged word bits are both from a magazine, as per the prompts. 

The words mean something on a very deep level to me today. I believe that art can help me keep adjusting even if it is my biggest challenge. As for the advice to not "stress about it," well, that would be another of life's challenges.

Mail Art + My First Paper Trade

My First Art Paper Trade!

My Partner-in-Trade is Win Dinn, who (much to my delight) has, at the same time she has been trading with me, also been in the midst of a studio purge. I am the grateful recipient of her generosity with that purge! It really made my day!
:)

The photo above has been altered by me for privacy's sake.

The fun stripey arrow is Win's.

What a clever way to upcylce that pattern's pouch!

I spent my younger years learning how to sew.

I actually like the red version of the outfit on the pattern's package photo, above.

Wow!!!

Look at that way cool tag!

Is the fuchsia bit paste paper? 

Pretty textures!

The choices seem endless!

A Smörgåsbord for the eyes!

(or, as is currently the case for me, one eye)

Very pretty papers!

So stinkin' cute!

Thanks, Paper Trade Partner Win!

Hope my mail art envelope of stuff 

arrives safely at your door very soon!

:)

P.S. Thank you again for the lovely postage 

on your cool envelope!

WOYWW #439~ One Eyed Art: Learning

Ever since my left eye began to malfunction 2 months ago, I've been too scared to try anything too challenging. That would include learning how to improve my work on faces.

I was afraid of failure. I tend to be, anyway. It can really reduce morale to have something not work out when life's a bit rougher than normal for a while, can't it?  Why try anything difficult that I know I don't have the proper skills to handle during such a difficult time?

For more WOYWW fun, please follow this link HERE to today's blogpost at host Julia Dunnit's blog.

Well, Meri made me do it! I mean, of course, Meri of The Meri Atelier. She didn't know that's what she was doing at the time, though. She has a real talent for doing both people and landscapes as well as mixed media, collage, journaling - you name it! I find it very inspiring to watch her make her art. I always learn when I watch her videos.

But where she really got to me was with her Inktober 2017 Art Journal. I'll include her video at the bottom of this post. In that lovely journal are hand drawn and inked/painted portraits of unknown children from vintage photos. Simply stunning work! I was hooked on portraits again.

I chose something almost at random. It was in a book on my windowsill. The original painting that I attempted to copy is by Dutch artist, van Dyck. The man's name was Cornelis van der Geest.

Despite the many wrinkles, I found that untreated plain brown paper can take gouache paint fairly well as long as it's layered on slowly and without too damp a brush. I began first by using white gouache in the 2 bottom layers, then  tinted more white gouache using watercolors for more layers to keep the paint opaque over the brown paper. I needed to smear and smoosh the gouache so that it would thin in places and not be too heavy at first. I wanted the brown of the wrinkly page to peep through, a bit like underpainting. (I have never tried to do underpainting) The page's wrinkles drove me a bit batty, but really, it's the current problems with my eyesight that challenged me more, especially as to perspective. For the background, I used a wash of Inktense Indian Ink.

Critiquing the Results

I'm not pleased with the skin tones. I'm too inexperienced to get those right yet. I left my comfort zone on this project. I did not get my copy real enough to suit me, even when I do kinda like parts of how the man's ruff turned out. Fabric's one thing, but faces are much more difficult for me to attempt. All the same, I've decided to try a new face every once in a while, just as a way to keep my hand in. 

My technique needs lots of help along with lots of practice if 

I'm to improve at all. Too late to improve the set of the eyes on this attempt!

Next up? Maybe somebody famous such as Shakespeare. No guts, no glory new messes! 

Please forgive me for not responding to you promptly. This post took a lot longer for me to type than is normal for me. It takes days for me to prepare ahead for each WOYWW these days. I am still too slow to keep up or to have enough time to leave comments at every desker's blog. The eye problem hasn't made things any easier. I do hope to be allowed to at least peep at people's pictures so that I might get an idea as to what they've been up to lately.

Happy WOYWW to all my fellow deskers!

As promised, here is Meri's lovely Inktober 2017 video.