Saturday, December 1, 2012

A Collection of Hearts

Hello all!  A special "Hello" to Yvonne who FaceBooked today about dusting off her box of Inktense Watercolour Pencils and playing around with them.  I was playing with my Intense pencils today, too!   : )

It's been a couple of weeks since I participated in Jennifer McLean's "Artist's Play Room" challenge this week.  The theme is to gather five or so items from your home and create a still life.  Who would have guessed that while contemplating what to draw I would discover about myself that I have a number of heart shaped pieces of jewelry!!  (Interesting these curious quirks that we discover about ourselves from time to time... lol...)  So I decided to use some of my heart jewelry to create a jewelry still life...




This is the first time I've tried painting reflective metal surfaces.  What a challenge!!  The silver watch pendant actually turned out pretty easy... somehow silver was easy to capture.  Gold on the other hand turned out to be really difficult for me to paint.

This was done in my Strathmore Mixed Media Visual Journal with Intense watercolour pencils.  The gold... well I finally gave up trying to render it in watercolour pencil and brought out a bottle of gold liquid acrylic and a Pentel gold Slicci pen.... oh, and also a white Sakura Jelly Roll pen.  The outlines of the pieces were made with a dark sepia Pitt pen.




The liquid acrylic was painted over everything that was supposed to be a gold metal, and then I added bright highlights with the Jelly Roll pen.  On the heart pendant (on the right), the liquid acrylic seemed too dark and flat -- it didn't convey the many shades of gold on the piece especially around the top and centre of the filigree work.  Since the Pentel pen has a slightly lighter shade of gold than the liquid acrylic I used it to draw in some lighter shades of gold rather randomly around the face of the pendant and then I added the extreme highlights with the gold Jelly Roll pen.

I feel like I really stretched myself (my abilities and patience... lol... ) on this challenge, so thank you Jenn for bringing me to the realization that I seem to have a 'thing' for heart shaped jewelry and for providing an opportunity for me to step outside my comfort zone.  : )  It will be interesting to see what the weekly challenges are for 2013.

The other fun thing I did this week was to visit one of my favourite art supply stores.  I  have a mixed media type project rolling around in my mind and needed to pick up a few supplies for it.  Well... that was the official reason for visiting the store....!  And you know how it goes... I came home with a few more items that I originally intended to buy and a head exploding with ideas for more art project.  : )  Don't you just love hanging out at art supply stores?  

So there you have it... that's what I've been up to creatively this week.  What about you??
: )  Fern

14 comments:

  1. TOTALLY!! It's even better than hanging around shoe stores or chocolate shops, lol. I'm more addicted to art supplies than I am hazelnut coffee. Your painting is terrific. I haven't attempted anything gold yet but I think your solution was perfect. We have the same supplies and paper, lol. at the core I'm a watercolorist but I also love being mixed media and using all the art supplies I can in a painting. Hope to see you in the new year Fern!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Visiting from the APR - This is a very beautiful picture. I can really 'see' all the sparkly bits and highlights. You have some very lovely heart shaped jewellery Mo :0)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fern, you are a sweet heart! WIth five hearts in your still life, you have much to be thankful for, You have a gift with words and the pencil. Composing, capturing, and colouring them in such a poetically beautiful way to express each ones individual delights. Wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cool idea...and I love the effect of the necklaces draped together. There really IS something about a still life. It elevates the everyday to almost a new consciousness. Great study!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my goodness, Fern - I most definitely love hanging out in art supply stores. It can be bad news (ha, ha) - I need a support group!

    When I was in the Jewellery Arts program we had to take rendering and all we rendered was gold or silver (well, with the odd gemstone thrown in there). It is hard - I'll leave it at that!

    Valerie
    www.firepanjewellery.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Came by through APR just had to tell you the gold filigree on the right is fabulous all your hard work and attention to detail definately paid off

    ReplyDelete
  7. just gorgeous!! I love how you interpreted this prompt!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lovely work Fern, and I am too, a big fan of art-supplies stores!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love this . . . do you know . . . I keep all of my costume jewelry in clay flower pots, all labeled to the style within the pot :)
    Your art is beautiful.
    Your blogging sister, Connie

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful still life showing some of your heart jewellery, Fern....beautifully presented on the page too! Yes, art supply shops are definitely a weakness of mine...I just can't walk past one without the desperate need to pop in and have a look-see. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stretching your abilities and your patience is certainly rewarding! Beautiful still life.
    You know kids in a candy shop? I'm just like them when I'm in any art supply shop!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love your hearts so much! Very well done! :)
    My creative week was mainly about sculpting and updating my Christmas countdown.. and playing outside in the snow, if you can call that creative :D
    Big hugs from Sweden!

    ReplyDelete
  13. :) It took me a while to get here, but LOVE what you did! I'm sad to say I haven't had much chance to play with my box of Inktense pencils, because I had some deadlines going on, but you're definitely keeping me inspired :) What I love especially about this piece and what you say about it, is the use of different materials - using what you need to get to the result you're looking for! I've been a purist - self-imposed - but lately, I'm starting to wonder why :) I think you're spot-on, finding what makes it work better and use it! I love your gold, as well as all the other hearts - beautiful still life, with much heart :)
    Oh, and yes, I know exactly what you're saying about art supply shops ;)

    ReplyDelete