Free Art Class by Willowing - The Heart of Art

I've mentioned Willowing here on my blog in the past. I've also taken, and enjoyed, a class from her called, "World of Whimsy". So now I'm here telling you about her FREE new Art Course! Yay! How can you beat FREE? You can't! She's really a fantastic teacher. Her way of teaching is gentle, but effective, and her art is whimsical, fun, and inspiring. Since she's being generous enough to offer a class for FREE I thought it was only fair for me to try and spread the word about it.

Click HERE to join "The Heart of Art".

The Sketchbook Project

I've signed up for something called The Sketchbook Project. It looks like fun and it's a great way to get the word out that you're an artist. I think it'll be so much fun knowing my work is being displayed at The Brooklyn Art Library as well as many other places on the tour around the country. I might even take a trip to Atlanta when the tour makes its way there. I chose the theme, "This Is Not A Sketchbook". I thought it would give me more room to do whatever I want. I ALMOST chose nightmares, but I thought that might be a dark journey that I already have to go through in my dreams. I'd probably be drawing things like spiders, snakes, death, plane crashes, etc... That could be interesting, but I just don't feel like facing those things day AND night, ya know?

So, who's with me!? It costs $25 to sign up and they'll send you the journal in your color choice. I chose black only because they didn't have any more red ones. I can change the cover, though, once it's here. You also have the choice of paying more to get your work digitized for their web site so you can view your work on their site or send others to see it that might not be able to go to any of the tour stops. Of course, I always scan anything I make, but that wouldn't get me on their web site, so I figured it would be a good idea just to get more eyes on my work. Know what I mean, Jelly Bean? That will be a nice little link on my blog or soon-to-be web site.

In other news, did you notice the new (simple) header? I got tired of the boring font choices Blogger gives you and didn't really want anything elaborate. I chose Pointy for my font. Katie recently mentioned it on her blog and reminded me of how awesome it is. Thanks Cuz!

I'm still working on my two classes. The Flying Lessons one is over, but I'm not quite to the finish line, yet. Luckily she's offering PDF versions of it to her students AND she'll let us copy and paste into documents for us to keep forever, as long as we don't share, of course. The Gut Art class is going slowly for me. It's taken me so long to get the journaling pages right. I hope that's not a preview of how the Skethbook thing will go. Yikes! Naw, it has just been a really busy time here. That's all. I'll catch up soon. Here are a coupld of images from the book so far...

The unfinished cover: (which can be finished after class is over, btw)

And here's one of the journaling pages:

Both of these photos were taken with my cell phone, so sorry about the crappy photos.

I'm still working on ATC's for Christa and Sharon. I'll show those when they're in their recipients hands. I don't want to ruin the surprise for them.

I guess that's about it. I'll try not to be such a stranger. I know I've been slacking in the blog department. I just haven't felt really chatty lately. I have funks that I go through sometimes. The only few people I talk to are Joel, Kolby, and Christa when I get that way. Poor them, right? Ha!

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxox ~Rischa

Online Art Courses - How To Decide?

I'm one of those "hard to shop for" people. My birthday was last Sunday, Jan. 17th. I told Joel not to worry about a gift, that I'd choose one for myself. That's what he had done for his Birthday two weeks prior, so I figured what was good for him was good for me. I'm trying to keep the pricing about the same, of course. He bought about $65-70 worth of goodies for himself. So, I'm thinking an art class would be just perfect. That's what I wanted anyway, and there happens to be a few new ones about to start that I think I'd enjoy. One is Willowing's Fabulous Faces and the other is Color: Beyond the Basics w/Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen.

I've taken one course from each of them previously and enjoyed them both very much. Well, I've never taken a course from Julie's new co-star, Chris Cozen, but I do have her book, Altered Surfaces.

I'm having a hard time deciding which of these courses is best for me right now. I'd love to just purchase them both, but alas....I can't afford to be spending every dollar on art courses & supplies no matter how much I'd like to do just that. That wouldn't be very frugal of me, now would it? I doubt Joel would appreciate me spending upward of $150 on all of this, either. That is what both would cost if I included the supplies list. I believe the supplies list for both courses are more like suggestions than necessities, however, I have found that it sure does help to have exactly what the instructor is using to get the results you're after.

So, I thought I would compare the two. This will be a comparison based on MY needs. This is not me trying to decide what course is best for everyone, as I think both would be beneficial and fun to anyone interested in art or learning new techniques.

• Both are interesting and would be useful to me.


• Willowing's classes are downloadable. Julie's are not.


• Julie's class is $23 less than Willowing's. (Give or take. Had to use GBP to USD conversion)


• I have all of the course materials for Willowing's class already.


• Both instructors provided contests, however Willowing's contest is over. If I sign up today I could still win something if I choose Julie and Chris's class. (I never win anything...who am I kidding)


• Willowing has a course outline pdf for downloading before the class so you'll know exactly what you'll be doing week by week. Unless I missed it, Julie's course doesn't have this.


• I've taken several face classes from different instructors in the past, but never a Colors class.


• All instructors will be available for questions during the course.


• Both classes are taught on Ning.

Okay, enough of that. It's not helping me make my decision. I still can't choose. There's one other thing that I'm wondering, but not sure about. Just how much are they planning to focus on color and how to mix colors together for a cohesive outcome in Julie's class? I really wish there was a course outline for this class. I don't want to ask all these questions and then decide on the other course. Rude, right? Also, how much of what will be taught in the Colors class is also in Chris Cozen's book? I have her book, as mentioned before. It's a great book and quite inspiring. Then again, so is Willowing, so that isn't a separating factor.

In case you're interested in taking the courses, here are the YouTube video ads for both:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15PueQ_I12o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-UBRQo7WvI&feature=player_embedded

Here's another option; Go to Books-A-Million or Amazon.com and buy books on exactly what I want! That doesn't seem like as much fun as someone walking you through the process, but I could get a taste of both Color and Faces and save a little cash in the process.

Embroidery

I thought I would post a few pics of the newest thing that I've picked up. I've recently learned to embroider. It's all Katie's fault. LOL J/K Katie! I just started "doodling" with the threads and here are a few things that came from that.

I know I didn't do the start/end of the felty one right. I need to work on my blanket stitch. I've really enjoyed embroidery so far. I bought this book called Doodle Embroidery and it's SO COOL! I took photos of these and sent them to Candice and she'll be using them in her scrapbook designs. I can't wait to see them. She sells at ScrapDish.com if you want to check her designs out. They're very nice. I'm working on some embroidered things that will go in my Etsy shop, too....if I can ever get the courage to open it!

I've also been working on my WOW class. That's the class that Willowing/Tam teaches. You'll see her links in my sidebar if you're interested.

Happy April Fool's Day everyone! And Happy Birthday to my Uncle Jeff and my friend Christa's daughter. Wouldn't it be cool to be born on April Fool's Day? I bet sometimes people don't believe them when they say, "It's my Birthday today". LOL

A Painting & Excuses

First the excuses.... I know I've been gone a while from this blog. I haven't had a lot of time to be creative for various reasons. Sick, busy, new feathered additions to the family, doc appointments, shopping, & etc...

With the excuses behind me I'll go ahead and post the fun stuff. Here's one thing I did manage to finish.

The Blue Guitar:

The colors didn't turn out as pretty as they are in real life, but that's what I get for taking quicky shots with a point and shoot. No light box, no outside light, no nothing to help my photos look pretty. You get the idea, though.

FYI The guitar string is actually sewing thread dipped in Mod Podge. The musical notes are from a Ukrainian Hymnal and have a color wash of antique yellow over the top. The yellow color you see in the painting is really more of an antique yellow, as well, but the colors turned out kind of mustard-esk. This will be in my shop very soon. Opening is coming up! Yay!

Creative Textures

I have tons of stuff to post about, but never enough time or motivation. I'm making this a short one because I really should be in bed already.

I joined a new class called Creative Textures by Jane DesRosier and Maureen White. I really enjoyed Jane's last class and always enjoy all of her YouTube Videos. Not to mention she has become a friend of mine. So I thought I would invite you all to join this new class with me. You WON'T regret it! Click the image below...

Finished Cloth & Clay Doll and My Art Show

I finished Cynthia, the doll I was working on. Here she is:

I roughed her up a little bit so she wouldn't look too perfect. I did that by rubbing an oil pastel on my fingers and smudging it over her skin, hair, and cloths. I'm not as happy as I could be with her skirt. I folded the top over to make it look a little more finished and used spray adhesive to hold it down. I wish I'd have just left it alone. It looked better before. Oh well....ya live, ya learn. I'm doing a weighted, standing doll now. I already had the sand for a different project, so I'll just use that.

If you happened to catch my other blog you know about my new "art show". (lol @ me calling it a show) It's just me sitting in front of my web-cam making art. If you tuned in yesterday and day before you'd have seen me sewing Mrs. DoLolly's skirt and giving her a final varnish. I don't have a set schedule yet. I do plan to come up with one. Maybe something like Lunch to 5:30 Monday-Friday. We'll see. Anyway check it out: Rischa's Art House

I've added a new Links list on the right side for my Cloth & Clay Doll Classmates. Look under "Doll Peeps" and go give them a look. While you're there leave them a comment. Blog folks love getting comments! ;-)

Also, now joining the world of blogs is my Mommy Dearest. Go tell her hello if you have a sec!

Suzi Blu Wood Burning & My Photos on Imagekind

I know I've mentioned Suzi Blu several times on here since I'm taking her Les Petite Dolls workshop, but I thought I'd post a video of hers. These videos are how I discovered her and her classes. Here she is doing some wood burning on YouTube. It is NOT from the class as those have to be paid for before viewing. If you'd like to take the class go to http://www.suziblu.ning.com/ OK, on to the video:

There's also a new widget on this blog. If you look over to the right you'll see the Imagekind Widget that will take you to my gallery. There you can purchase my art and photography. I only have one up right now, but soon it will be filled to the brim with goodies to customize and purchase. You can get anything from greeting cards to prints to canvases. They'll even add a frame and border for the right price. I then get a percentage of what is sold. I put up Joel's favorite photo of mine first. Go check it out! Go! Run! Buy! Hehe

PS. If you're ever going to watch a video on this blog you'll have to go to the very bottom of the page first to turn off my tunes. That way you'll be able to listen to one thing at a time rather than the video with the music playing over the top of it. ;-)

Another WIP

Just a shot or two of what I'm working on right now.

The owl is made of scrapbook paper. I added paint and antiqued it a bit, too. I haven't actually affixed it to the painting yet, but I will. I also have some other drawings on watercolor paper that I've cut out and will apply to the painting.

Here's a shot of my little work area:

It's a mess, isn't it? It gets the job done, though. Not the prettiest area to have in a living room, but....it's necessary.

Ok, I'm off for now. Check back soon as I have info on another class I'm taking. It's on how to make clay dolls. It should be fun! :-)

My Pretty Girls

Here are a few photos of how my pretty girl drawing is coming along. It's mostly just eye practice. Once I get that I can go on to the other stuff.



Find more photos like this on Mixed Media With Suzi Blu