{Echo} - Week 21 Portals...

I enjoy the casual nature of this "bi-weekly"group.

Echo - Week 21 Portals

My entry is on the left and my partner, Marty's is on the right

When I think of Portals I think  "other worldly" like walking into

some mystical light down a beautiful garden path.

Hey, I live near Sedona, AZ

(If you are aware of Sedona you know what I mean)

Hop over to Marty's blog and learn more about her "backdoors"

{portraits and hair...)

New portrait painting.

I have focused on eyes, noses, and lips.

Thinking they would be the most difficult. I admit noses can be the trickiest.

But hair has proven even more so.

Luckily I prefer less to more.

And even like messier portraits but somehow I have

gotten a method down that makes my ladies

a bit to polished I think.

Don't get me wrong I still like them.

But I also want something a bit more rough around the edges.

Here she is before adding her hair.  I may try printing her out from PSE and then

trying out new hair "styles" on her.  That way I don't have to

spend all the time painting (and still stressing) over painting her face.

Could be fun

{the art of silliness...}

 I'm not comfortable drawing and want to learn to draw with more ease and enjoyment.

So with the help from The Drawing Lab book.  I drew 100

cats from different references.  This is one I took

to the next level by creating a canvas painting from it from the 1st lesson.

The book.

I love her style of drawing and the book's lessons are fun

(or at least could be if I wasn't stressing about drawing )and easy enough to do. 

The online class

While blog hopping I found this class by the Carla Sonheim, the author

of the book Drawing Lab.

This looks like an excellent class to complement the book and

help keep me focused on it for a least a month.

You can find the outline for the class here. 

So while I could just follow the book, her online class is so affordable.

And it just plan feels good to support someone offering online classes

at such a reasonable cost..

{quirky house...}

Well here it is.  The quirky little house quilts.   All lined up

and ready to be attached as soon as I get to the hardware store.

So I can't hang it on the wall yet.

It's a fun piece that gave me a chance to try some ideas out for putting

quilts in frames.

{roof top bird...}

Final photo for the roof top frame

of my 3 part house.

It's quilted and ready for its frame along with the door knob and window photos

 from the last couple of posts.

The frames are painted but I think I am going to grunge them up a bit first.  

I will have the quilts in their frames soon.  And will post maybe yet this weekend.

I will also need to finish the backs neatly once the quilts are in their frames.

I have a couple of ideas for that too which kept me awake last night thinking about it.

It will require a trip to the store first.