Absolutely LOVE

A friend of mine posted this on facebook recently. I had to steal it, I am absolutely in love with this!! I think I need to paint one, and then I think I need one to wear.

Introducing My New Jewelry Shop on Etsy!

So I am finally putting my jewelry and accessories up for sale on etsy. I'm using my previous username that I used to buy things with before I became a seller and created my artofjenna account. I will now have a link to this new shop on the right side of the page------------->
My new shop can be found here: jenmarie0324.etsy.com
Spread the word!

A Lesson in Mondrian and Other Fun Updates

So I have been teaching my LEAP after school enrichment classes for the last 2 weeks for my kindergartners and first and second graders. This last week, I was super excited at how the class and paintings turned out, and I wanted to share. We talked about Piet Mondrian and how he used the primary colors in many of his paintings.

We also talked about using lines and color in a composition. The Mondrian paintings also helped the students learn to control the paintbrushes and their brushstrokes- especially when painting lines.
And like I said, I love how their Mondrian paintings turned out. Here are a few of the students' pieces from the class.

So proud of my little artists!

In other fun updates...
I have begun my background in the color pencil piece. Keep in mind that this is VERY rough and still quite sketchy, but in the end I want it to be a forest, like the forest of the night wisps in Legend of the Seeker (haha, I'm such a nerd, I know-but it's such a great show!)

Painting a Portrait, Part 2

Sorry it's been so long since I have updated on this portrait. I've included a few steps in this section...

Here I'm beginning to add skin tone colors. I normally start with the forehead and eye area- this normally sets the what the skin tone will be like for the rest of the face and body-how warm or cool, what hues I use for shadows and highlights, etc.

And here are the colors that I'm using and mixing on my palette to create the skin tone.

The hues for the mid range for the value of the skin is a mixture of cadmium red and cadmium yellow light. From this, add either zinc white or flake white to lighten the pigment to the mid range.

                            
I use alizaren crimson for the next value/intensity level below the mid range. So this would be the lighter shadows. To make a slightly darker shadow than this, I add cerulean blue.

For the very darkest shadows, I use a mixture of alizaren crimson and ultramarine blue. For me, this combination will always push an area back in space. I suppose if you wanted to go even darker, you could add phthalo green- or if you feel your shadows have more brown and green in them, you could replace the cerulean blue and ultramarine blue with the phthalo and a burnt umber or other brown.

Next I have finished more of the face with these colors.

And now the chest area.

And finally, at this point I will add some color to the hair. Right now I am using a combination of burnt umber and cadmium red, with some ultramarine blue in the shadows. I'm not sure if I want her hair to be dark brown or red, so I will leave the underpainting in these tones for now.

 I think the background will really determine what color her hair ends up being.

Featured on Sykin's One Stop Etsy Shopping Guide

I was so excited to come home today and find a note in my inbox with a link to this feature! This is so beautifully done, and I am so excited to get to be a part of Missie's blog. If you get the chance, take a look around her blog-- it is really fantastic with some great shops and items featured. What a wonderful collection!

                                     

Gotta stop lighting my own torches

Lately I know that the direction (or lack thereof) that my life is taking has really been on my mind, and I find myself pleading with God for guidance, for a path. Oftentimes, I feel stuck in still-nothings-happening-land where I still cannot find where I should go or what I should do. I spend half the time worrying over my current situation and the other half worrying about the future. I had been reading Beth Moore's Breaking Free the last few months, but for whatever reason, I just stopped. I picked the book back up tonight and began reading again. The two chapters I read were about God's rule in our lives being right and God's daily rule in our lives. I was really awakened to my lack of daily seeking God's presence and being diligent in seeking to obey him. Not that I go about to purposefully disobey him, but I just don't think about it. I try to figure things out for myself and then cry out to God in frustration when he doesn't seem to provide an answer. For those of you who are in a similar position as me, trying to figure out where your life is going to go and what the next step is, let alone what you should do tomorrow, I hope these words from Beth's book encourage you like they have encouraged me:

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth." (Isa. 51:1-2)
If we look to the rock from which we were hewn, we can...
-believe God can do the impossible (Gen. 18:14).
-admit the futility of taking matters into our own hands (Gen. 16).
-believe God still loves and can use us even when we detour--- if we agree to return to his path (Gen. 17).
-believe God can still call us righteous based on our faith in him, even if our righteousness is like filthy rags (Gen. 15:6; Isa 64:6).
-believe that blessing ultimately follows obedience (Gen. 22:18).
Because the Lord is so compassionate, He can work wonders with the ruins, deserts, and wastelands of His children's lives.
"The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD." (Isa. 51:3)
Have you felt like the waves of the sea were pounding against you and you were drowning in a relentless tide? Isaiah reminds you that God can do for you what he did for Moses. He "made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over" (Isa. 51:10b)
Have you ever felt like a cowering prisoner? Have you ever felt like you would never be released? I love the words of Isaiah 51:14: "The cowering prisoners will soon be set free." Believe it and claim it! Obey and see that you can trust! ...God said that he is doing a new thing:
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." (Isa. 43:18-19)
...Like a father cupping his rebellious child's face in his strong hands, He says, "Listen to me... Hear me... I, even I, am he who comforts you... I am the LORD your God" (Isa. 51:1, 7, 12, 15). Essentially, God is saying to us, "I am for you, Child! Not against you! When will you cease resisting me?"
"Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you set ablaze. This is what you shall recieve from my hand: You will lie down in torment." (Isa. 50:10-11)
No matter how long we've walked with God, we will still have days that seem dark. In those times God tells us to trust in his name and rely on who he is. Job 23:10 continues to be a blessing to me when I don't know what to do: "But he knows the way that I take." When you feel you've lost your way, take heart! He knows the way that you take. Stand still, cry out, and bid him to come to you! He'll lead you on from there, and miraculously, when once again you see the light, you'll be able to see the footprints you made in the dark. Never will he hold your hand more tightly that when he is leading your through the dark.
What is your biggest temptation when you don't feel that God is illuminating your way clearly? Isaiah 50:11 describes mine perfectly. I tend to want to light my own fire and walk by the illumination of my own torch. Yes, you and I will still veer periodically from the path, no matter how obediently we want to walk, because we're pilgrims with feet of clay. The beauty of God's light is this: it will always lead us right back to the path. No matter how long the detour has been, the return is only a shortcut away. "Save me, for I am yours" (Ps. 119:94).
-Beth Moore, Breaking Free

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." (Psalm 119:105)

Lace Applique Jewelry

I finished some new jewelry pieces to sell at the artist market coming up in a few weeks. I can't decide which design with the black earrings I like best- maybe I will do a few of each.

  

 

New Mural Page

I just got done moving all of the photos of my mural work to a new page---



AND, I've included some of my newest murals that I just finished last week. Click on the picture and go take a look!