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I hope you're staying indoors and continuing to stay safe these days! I left the house for the first time in 2 weeks yesterday, to sign some documents at the bank. It was only the second time leaving wearing a face mask and it still feels so icky and surreal. My mask did make me feel silly and a little special tho!!! I mean, if you're going to wear a mask, you may as well make it a fashion statement, right?! I feel like turtles are very 2020...just saying.  Huge thanks to my student, Tracy Williams for making me look so fashionable! We have been inside for 6 weeks straight now and even our house is getting sick of us I think!!! 2 nights ago my boys toilet malfunctioned and flooded 3 rooms upstairs so badly it was RAINING in 3 PLACES in my ART STUDIO down below!!!! Water was pouring out of 3 different lights in my studio closet AND out of the ceiling and onto the floor and onto my TABLE, omg it was sooooooooooo not good. Luckily, being a family of 5, we own A LOT of towels (beach, pool, bath) and used EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. to sop up the mess. Plus pots and pans for the rain in the downstairs!! MIRACULOUSLY, nothing precious got wet or was destroyed, just a pile of books that I rescued quickly enough and laid outside to dry right away. I can't believe it!! Then last night, at 3:40 a.m. our fire alarm sounded!!!! My poor youngest, Max, sleeps in a loft bed with his ear about 10 inches from the smoke alarm, it's a wonder he can hear at all today!!! Not to mention the heart attacks by all! There was no source of smoke or fire, just a false alarm but still. What the heck?! So yeah, I feel like our house is sick of the 5 of us and ready for us to leave and resume our normal lives already!!! Sadly, as you know, it's going to have to get over it as this Coronavirus situation seems to be going nowhere. Wish me luck nothing crazy happens tonight! One huge upshot of all this indoor time is that art is able to take a front seat. Okay it always has a front seat with me but truly my projects can be more involved. My lessons can take their time. My students get the benefit of all of it! If you're a Fun Fab Drawing Club member you may not be aware that we are doing these fabulous Art Deco Fashion Ladies at the moment!! Even for those JUST learning how to draw, the results have been astounding!! Check out this piece by Leslie Anderson!  If you missed the enrollment period over Easter weekend you can still add your name to the waitlist HERE. You'll be then notified when enrollment opens again and you can join. Now onto the FREE stuff!! As part of my own art therapy this week I made this enormous 2ft x 2ft canvas of a sassy girl in sunglasses...using my patented Hamburger mixed media layering system, of course!!!  This then became the FREE tutorial on YouTube and to watch all you have to do is click the video play button below! Hopefully you'll enjoy that lesson, lots of tips and tricks for you in there!!! Also a full recap of the Hamburger mixed media layering process and all sorts of art supply goodness. ENJOY!
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Today is Friday which means NEW FREE YouTube lesson!! This project was particularly satisfying for sooooo many reasons! Well, I'll just list them off so you know what they are! First all, I got to paint with my fountain pen inks. They are soooooo vibrant and juicy and satisfying (due to their vibrancy and juiciness) that I cannot even compare them to any other medium I love them so much! This is the one I use for skin color. It's DIVINE!  I can now draw hands after publishing a book on them! I can finally dive into any project that involves them and has truly opened up a whole new world of faces and characters now that I'm no longer afraid to tackle any drawing!  I spill 3 oz. of permanent ink all over my studio floor. There's nothing quite like an explosion of ink to liven things up in the old art room!  Glasses. Having the guts and courage to draw OVER and ON TOP OF a completely painted girl, is, well, TERRIFYING! But then the level of proud you feel when you actually pull it off is the BEST FEELING EVER!! So while it's scary, it's worth it!!! So my advice to you is to simply GO FOR IT.  The references I used today are so super cute!! The original reference photo was taken from Vogue Japan and I just fell in love with it when I saw it!!! Another reason today's project was so fun was because of my little feline side-kick!! Oh Tippie!!! So after the spill and the cat play and the juicy brushes filled with ink I was just delighted at the final outcome. Click on the video here to watch how YOU can learn how to paint glasses on YOUR mixed media girls!! Drawing eyelashes is, hands down, the hardest facial feature to master. How do I know this? Because I've had more requests to cover this topic in the last 5 years than any other one thing. This short video covers how to draw realistic eyelashes step by step on paper with pencil, but this same eyelash drawing tutorial can be used and expanded on when you're drawing your mixed media girls as well. Grab a pencil and draw with me! I hope you're staying safe indoors and have found some activities to keep your mind, heart and soul occupied and happy. I personally find the best way to keep my heart and mind happy is to keep my body busy!! I've gone on A LOT of walks. But I'm also keeping busy with painting and drawing!!! You may remember from last week's email that we painted our son Max's room? Well yesterday I painted his favorite video game character in there too. Lifesize. 'Cause, really, why not if it keeps me busy and him DELIGHTED! Seemed like a double win so we went for it!  Sadly it only took me 2 hours so I still had to keep busy for the rest of the day but it definitely helped me take my mind off of things for an afternoon. Since being creative is working so well for ME these days, I thought maybe it would work well for you too! So today I'm bringing you a fun demonstration tutorial about how to use colored pencils to help you shade your mixed media drawn faces. The funny thing is that I REALLY DO HATE COLORED PENCILS. You can see so (and learn why) in the video!! lol! But then you can also see how I use them to really pack a shading PUNCH to my best art journal faces. Here's a peek!  Ready to learn and see? Grab some pencils and meet me at your art table. Then press play and let's gooooo! |
Karen CampbellFounder of Awesome Art School. Mixed Media Artist. Author of 18 Instructional Art Books!    
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"Karen is flipping hilarious and she's very real...I like the way she teaches in a way that really gives you confidence, whether you're a beginner or advanced there's always something new to learn!"
- Elizabeth W. |
What Fans Are SayingKaren, you are absolutely fabulous! You make me feel like I can draw anything. I have recently retired and finally have the time to do some of the art that I have loved since I was in school. I am really at the beginning of my art journey and I hope to learn as much as I can. Thank you for all you do. |
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