Playing with Inspiration

Today I puttered. Today I played. Yesterday  Joyce Valenza's Facebook profile picture inspired me. I love the pose and the simple shadows. So I used it as a mentor text to sketch. If you don't follow her on Twitter, do. She's been on my ed-tech list for a long time--she teaches me something every time I dip into her stream.

I started the sketch yesterday and had time today to paint. I wasn't trying to copy the image of Joyce per se (I'm terrible painting actual people actually) but I was interested in the spirit and shape of the image. I was at a break in my Iona journal but had an idea. I wanted the piece to stretch across the divide. So I imitated Joyce's position from the profile picture on the left and on the right sketched a sky of flying books.  

I love how the artist that did Joyce's picture captured her hair. Since I took Paulette Insalls "All about Faces" painting class, I've struggled with hair. Seriously, there are three bald women on canvas in my studio. Sometimes I put off drafting decisions, especially when I creating with paint. 

 I got my tools ready and set up my space with freezer paper, an old rag, paper towels. I filled a spent Talenti ice cream container with water and tuned into the Three Tenors on Pandora.

I'm not quite finished but I'm well into the second draft.

The books still need details and I'm not sure about the dark outlines or her eyes. I'd like to try a layer of glaze and them add color to pop. The glasses need highlights too. The paper needs to rest and dry for now. Tomorrow is another day. And this week, I have a lot of time to play.

The Slice of Life Story Challenge is hosted by the talented team at Two Writing Teachers.
 Link up your slice everyday in March and on Tuesdays all year.
 Thanks Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna and Beth.