Angie

Angie is a very beautiful girl with a porcelain complexion. She tried to stay out of the sun.

She also likes purple and wears it anytime she can. She has cure hair too. I want her hair.

I used Letraset Flex markers to create her.

Fun Background and a Great Quote

I was going to do a little quick tutorial on how to create these wonderful and colorful backgrounds then I thought I can just tell you. It's so easy. And most of you have probably done this technique.

For this background I took some of my Dylusions Spray Inks that I used for "Lollapalooza Two: The Spray Journal". Then I sprayed some colors fairly "juicily"( I like to make up words) on a sheet of Fabriano Artistico Watercolor paper then put Saran Wrap on top it. 

The cheaper the better for the Saran wrap actually---generic is good.

Then I crinkled the Saran wrap around on the watercolor paper. 

You can see the wonderful crinkles right away. Crinkle it as much or little as you desire.

I let it sit over night and it's like Christmas morning pulling it off to see on the wonderful texture. 

This is a great way to create some colorful snippets for your "Lollapalooza One: Snippet Journal".

 I used my own Neuland font I created from Fontifer and added the quote. 

Feel free to download this one and print it as one of your snippets if you want to. 

I had fun creating these backgrounds and you will too!

ALSO:

Just a few more days for the sale prices!

If you haven't signed up for Lollapalooza you can do that HERE

AND:

If you have signed up and haven't emailed me for the mini-tutorials to get you ready

EMAIL ME

Put STUDENT in the subject line.

Lollapalooza Three--Almost Done!

I have had so much fun filming "Lollapalooza Three:The Big Grig Journal" It's almost as if I just can't stop because there are so many different creative and fun ways to do this type of journal.  But I must stop somewhere. As you see it takes me lots of stuff to film this workshop but it makes me so happy because I am using supplies that I don't use very often. Good for the "guilt over massive supplies" syndrome.  I hope you have been able to take advantage of the sales for these three upcoming classes.  If not you can sign up here. 
Sale ends April 29th.

April 29th

Nervous Doodle Fingers

I seem to have been riveted by my TV screen for the past 24 hours or so so the doodling has been a good thing for my restless and nervous hands. The hands have calmed down now and are heading to the studio to continue the day's work. Have a nice weekend!

"Lolla 3" Supplies!

I thought it would be helpful to all my "Lollapalooza Three" students to have a supplies video. I have just posted it on the site so if you have access to the "Mini Tutorial" site then make sure you check it out. If you are a student and haven't seen the private tutorial blog then make sure you email me with the word STUDENT in the subject line of your email and I will send you the site.

Thanks so much y'all!!!

PS I also added "Five Minute Flowers" to get you ahead on your snippet pile!

Sandy

I am enjoying drawing the girls and using my Letraset Flex markers which are very similar to the Copics but the brush is thinner and firmer. Can't decide which I like the best--but I think I am liking the Flex markers the best. I bought some Bienfang Graphics 360 marker paper at a big discount today at our local art store thinking that it would work with the Flex markers and the Copics. Did not work. Glad I got this paper on sale. I can use it for tracing paper I guess.

This is Sandy---she is thinking hard about something.

ATTENTION: ALL "LOLLAPALOOZA" STUDENTS

Would you like a couple of tutorials to get you ready for the upcoming clases???

Ok then-- if you have signed up and bought any of the classes or all three (thanks!!) then do this:
1.  Email me ---marthalever@gmail.com
2.  Put:   STUDENT into the subject line of your email (very important!)
3. I will send you the link to the private blog

I am starting to film Lollapalooza Three and I think a couple of advance tutorials would be helpful.  These will be available until June 24th when the class starts. These will be included in LollaTwo and Three so when you get to those videos you will already know how to do it! I am hoping that I can put a few more up too (hopefully)--- so make sure you save the site to your favorites.

If you haven't signed up yet you can do that HERE
Thanks so much!!!

The Red Zins

Every month Betty, Rynda and I get together at my studio and do an oil painting project. We mostly are trying to become better painters so we usually either do a Richard Robinson workshop or we analyze a painting that we all like and think is interesting and attempt to paint it. (Of course we don't sell these paintings.)

Our painting for this month was from a wonderful book called Problem Solving for Oil Painters  by Gregg Kreutz. We all admire the way he paints and this book is a really good source of information. We decided on this inspiration painting from this book that you see on the monitor:

I decided that I would experiment with some textures in the background so I stenciled in some

Wood Icing for texture for my underpainting. I think it actually gave it an interesting effect. I might use it again. I used to use it all the time with my acrylic paintings.

 It's really not one of my favorite paintings but I think it turned out to be a

 good likeness to the original so therefore---a success!

So another fun day with the paintin' gals!

Lori's Tulips

My sweet best buddy, Lori, is not only a fabulous artist but she is a great photographer too. This is a Julie Ford Oliver"Fractured" technique painting. I am enjoying the fracturing technique and hopefully I can get comfortable with it.

 Here is Lori's photo. 

Lori's lighting on her photo was so luminous that it was hard for me to capture. Capturing light is something that comes with practice (lots of it!) and I am working on that. Glass is another thing that I am working on. It is a process for sure!  I reused a canvas that already had an orange underpainting. You can see it peeking through the fracturing. All in all, I am enjoying the fracturing so far. Thank you for the wonderful photo, Lori!

Miss Moses Lobeau

As I trekked the 6 hour ride to Greenville for Easter (Chauncey and Zach came later on the plane),

I listened to a really cute and entertaining audio book called, Three Times Lucky.

This is what I think the main character, Mo, an 11 year old girl from a little town in NC,

would look like all dressed up. She's a spunky little thing as you can see in her eyes.

Pretty Flowers in a Jar

I always enjoy my watercolors. They are opposite from oils but always fun.

I think I fractured something!

Thank goodness it was only paint!  This is Julie Ford Oliver's wonderful technique of "Fracturing."  I absolutely love the look of this technique and I really hope I can do more of this. You can watch her how-to videos on Daily Paintworks. I haven't had time to paint since I have been living the
"Lollapalooza" high life recently. I am taking a little break before starting to film Lollapalooza Three so I thought I better pick up a paintbrush before I started rolling backwards.

I painted her sample painting for my first time trying it. Next time I will paint a still life and see what happens.