A tinfoil flower (a la Christy Tomlinson) that looks like a pansy

A Christmas present this last year was joining LifeBook 2013. I must have read about it on someone’s blog, most likely Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. I wasn’t at all sure what it was going to be like or whether it would really be my thing, but I have learned and done more in these last two months than in the last two years, I think.

Car detail–drawn from scratch, painted and shaded by hand

One of the most important things I have done is to use my hands and fingers to DRAW. It is not scary at all when I can watch Tam draw something on the video, pause to do it myself, and then carry on when I’ve reached her point. She explains things so clearly and shows them clearly too and it is amazing what I have been able to draw that I never ever thought I could ever do in this lifetime.

I have drawn a car, a entire body with sleeves that look like sleeves, a face . . .

Detail of a sleeve with shading that actually worked!

I have made tinfoil flowers that are surprisingly appealing (definitely not my normal thing but they may turn up on my holiday cards somehow this year) and one that definitely looks like a pansy, which was my grandmother’s favorite flower . . . I have used my masking fluid, smeared light molding paste through a stencil, and transferred a tracing onto my watercolor paper . . . I can hardly imagine what the next ten months are going to bring.

Light molding paste applied through a stencil

Through much hard work the last couple of weeks I have gotten caught up and am really enjoying doing each lesson as it comes out.  So far I have done every lesson without prejudging it, and there hasn’t been one yet that I regretted having spent time doing.