100 Day Project Week 2
Making up for lost time- it counts to make a weeks worth of painted faces in one day.
So this week was busy which means the 100 Day Project was a bit trickier for me. Last week I was hot heavy, this week I was working a bunch doing stuff like making catapults at school STEAM nights and setting up mermaid tiara make and takes. All excuses aside I decided it was perfectly fine for me to get a week’s worth of faces done in a single setting.
Practice Makes Perfect - Even if All the Practice Happens on the Same Day
I realize the point is to practice daily as opposed to making a bunch of faces at once, but it’s my 100 Day Project and I can do whatever I want. Kinda like it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to but different.
Ok all rationalizing aside this morning I took a lovely zoom class with
and making fun faces. These that I am sharing are all works in progress and using gouache was way out of my comfort zone but I still had fun. Plus the whole point is to stretch myself in the face drawing department.I find that with every class I take there is always something I walk away with and every little bit helps.
Did you read…
Three Girls One Meet-Up
Gayle Kabaker was first and led us through quick paintings of 3 different women. This was a live zoom class so if like me you were painting along with the instructors you had to move fast. This is probably a blessing otherwise I would have sat and fiddled with imperfections. The look of both women’s art is loose and whimsical. It’s like how Dolly Parton says “it costs a lot of money to look this cheap”. Gayle and Jennifer both have tons of talent and time behind them making their work look carefree and breezy. It’s a serious skill to make that gouache flow in a cute way. I’m looking forward to the class replay so I can finish up the pieces I started and add details to things. This blue lady in a headscarf is the most finished of the three I started.
Good News - That Crumbly Jelly Gouache You Impulse Bought Still Works!
Since I don’t really plan to make a career out of gouache painting I don’t think I need to run out and buy a bunch of things but I was curious about the Kuretake Brush Pens mentioned during the workshop. I used what I had on hand which was a hodge podge of paint from Mondo Lama, Michaels and Jane Davenport. Oh and my crusty Amazon jelly gouache that everyone was nuts for at one point (including me) and I used once then totally let it dry out. Good news, it reactivates with water. I still had my watercolor brushes from the retreat I took with
in Morocco but I’ve lost the little skinny brushes so more of those would be handy for details. Lastly, this 100 Day Project is showing me that I need better pencils and erasers in my life. P.S. I loved this rubber eraser etiquette article from .Side Note: Speaking of painting retreats I see that both Jennifer and Gayle have several coming up that look amazing. Wish I had looked into their Greece retreat a bit further before it sold out.
I’m also eyeballing some painting retreats from Helen Dardik (one day I’ll make it to one of her workshops), Lori Siebert (I can’t decide if there is any actual painting or if this one is more of a city tour) and Neon Flow Retreats (also in Mexico, but it conflicts with Lucky Star Art Camp).
Side Note Rant: Why are so many retreats held in locations that are so remote and random? I love retreats that are a mix of art and city/culture. If I’m traveling that far I want some of both, I don’t want to be stuck on an island I’ve never heard of or in a lavender farm in the middle of nowhere for a week.
I’ll let you know if I win the lottery or the paid subscriptions for this Substack go viral and I can afford to go.
You Had Me at Ochre
This was not my first time at the Jennifer Orkin Lewis (August Wren) painting style rodeo. I’ve tried emulating her fun and eclectic face clusters before and I’m sure I will again. When my daughter was young we loved doing a collaborative versions of her watercolor faces. I’d paint a circle, Tallulah would paint the hair, I’d do the eyes, she’d do the….
I really gravitate to the colors and style of Jennifer’s work - you had me at ochre. Jennifer often does not fuss with things like shading or where the light source is in her reference photos. Yes I need to learn that skill but this is just day 14 of 100 in learning to draw faces. I’ll save that for like day 47.
Both women make me want to paint more faces with glasses and sunglasses. They are perfect for hiding the mix matched wonky eyes I’m prone to painting. Interestingly both women mentioned an aversion to painting teeth and lord I’d add giant teeth to every painting if I could. All of my paintings need serious orthodontic work.
Be sure to follow
and . I highly recommend one of their Zoom classes, I know I’ll be signing up. Also over on Patreon you can follow Painting With Jennifer and Gayle for even more fun face action.
Technically I’m a 100 Day Project Overachiever
Today I painted 8 faces and there were only 7 days worth of faces ‘due’ - does this make me an overachiever? Hells yeah it does. Oh and as you can see since you are reading this my other 100 Day Project of of posting on Substack is going swimmingly. I’ve got over 1.6k subscribers and some are even paid subscriptions! Remember everything is free now but things are going to change starting April 1st. The third life goal I had for my 100 days were writing morning pages and so far so good there too!
Tune in next week to see how my progress is going. I’ve got a plan for the coming week I’ll share if it worked next Sunday. Hint: It involves the hotel room keys I’ve been hoarding.
The portraits all look great. What matters most is what results from a project.
Omg you’re amazing! Love the kid collab idea!