48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 29

This week is officially my favorite so far. I love the collage of vintage (and pseudo vintage) papers with the abstract circles and lines and just a few touches of color. Here's Donna's:

And here's mine. I didn't vary mine too much because I really loved hers. But I'm going to try this one again, maybe with some photos and use some different colors. Comparing the two, I can see I still need to work on the concept of "less is more".  But I really love the results anyway.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 28

This week was about finding your palette - the colors you instinctively go to. Here's Donna's who does use this palette quite a lot.

I had a some difficulty in figuring out what colors I wanted to use. I'm attracted to all sorts of different color combinations but the ones I ended up with are the colors that make me happy. Some are the same as Donna and others are different.

It was a good exercise and really made me think. I still don't have the hang of getting the colors down in a loose fashion and transitioning from one to the next but I'm learning. In the end, this was a good lesson and I'm getting more comfortable with doing my own thing.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 27

This week's lesson was to revisit week 14 but to focus more on texture. Here's Donna's.

 It was fun to find different things to make the texture - I ended up using some tulle, dryer sheets, big rickrack, German scrap, etc. Then a glaze of teal and quinacridone gold which gave a wonderful rusty look.

I find I really enjoy this style and plan on doing more like this myself....maybe even on a canvas eventually.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 26

This week was about using oil pastels. Here's Donna's:

She used some expensive oil pastels which really shows in her results as the colors are brighter and a wider range of shades. I didn't want to invest in the oil pastels since they aren't something I really use a lot of, so I used the inexpensive Portfolio oil pastels that I had. Turned out OK, if a little childish in the flowers.

It's interesting how some of the lessons I agonize over, taking a week or more to finish. This one I did in a day which was amazing to me. If only I could work that fast on every week, I'd be a lot more caught up.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 25

This week was a challenge to use fabric with joint compound to create a dress. The background is modeling paste and stencils. Here's Donna's - a very floral and pretty background. She accidentally wiped off part of the woman's face but was able to go back and draw in the features - pretty amazing.

I don't have many floral stencils and none of them were speaking to me so I used one to make a patterned wall and another to make a wall with cracks. The figure I found in a magazine. Because she was leaning, I had to make a railing for her. The dress gave me some problems but I think it turned out OK and was very fun to do.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 24

About a month behind but I am finally done with the 2nd Semester. The lesson was to cover the background in free writing and then cover most of it up. It's a great way to express thoughts and even very personal feelings that you don't necessarily want to revisit or share with others.

Here's Donna's. Love the way she mixes all the colors for the background. I still have a difficult time with this.

And here's mine. I went with fewer colors and used a cat silhouette. My writing was about my feelings after coming home from the vet where we had our dear Bela put to sleep. It was actually very helpful to write about it and then work the cat figure into the spread.

And now I'm ready to move forward into the 3rd semester!

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 23

Almost at the end of the 2nd quarter and I'm still plugging away. This week had an interesting contrast between bright colors and grunge. Here's Donna's. She used a sponge top Krink marker.

I didn't have that marker so used a Sharpie paint pen. It worked OK but ended up smearing when I wiped off the glaze. Oh well, it just adds to the grungy look, right? I loved using the different stencils.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 22

Moving along....I love the bright colors in this one. Here's Donna's:

And here's mine. I used more washi tape and mine ended up more structured than hers but I like the way it turned out. Very fun with the pop of black and white. After my struggles with the last week's lesson, this one was a piece of cake.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 21

I got stuck on this lesson for weeks...I think it was because I really didn't like the colors in Donna's. Thought about just changing all of them but I also figured I need to get out of my comfort zone so finally pushed through. Here's Donna's:

I did change some of the colors - instead of black, gray and dark red, I used payne's gray, duochrome blue-silver and napthol red - the red is much brighter in the photo than it looks in person. I guess it's OK but I'm still not that happy with it. I didn't have the stencil so used a photo of Ava Gardner that I printed out and then just transferred the silhouette to the page with graphite paper - I do like how that part turned out.

I'm so ready to move on with the next lesson.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 20

Had a hard time getting started with this one and I don't really know why. It wasn't that difficult but I kept putting it off. Here's Donna's which is a lovely depiction of hollyhocks. She ended up with an almost watercolor effect but it's all acrylics.

And here's mine. The shading on the flowers was more difficult than I expected. Played with it for so long that I finally just called it done.

Still having problems doing the "loosey-goosey" backgrounds. Just can't get the hang of the fingerpainting like she does. But that's OK because that's her thing and I'm working on finding out my thing.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 19

And now I'm up to date as I just finished this one on Friday. Here's Donna's:

To be honest, it really didn't speak to me - so much black. But I did it and although I'm not thrilled with the results, it was an interesting process. Here's my result:

Looking at it, I see several things I would like to do differently and maybe I will down the road.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 18

This week was very fun and loose. Here's Donna's:

Lot's of bright colors and doodling in the background. Here's my take on it.

Again, there are several layers here of patterned papers, stamping and doodling. You don't see it all but it really adds to the piece.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 17

This lesson was all about layers. Here's Donna's:

There are so many layers of stickers, paper, paint, stamping, etc. At first glance you only see the surface, but if you look closely you can see the layers underneath peeking out.

To give you an idea, here's my spread about half way through:

Looks very dark and grungy but I loved it and really didn't want to cover it all up. But the point of these lessons is to push ourselves out of our comfort zones and trust in the process. I'm glad I did as I love the finished spread - in fact it may be my favorite so far.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 16

I really wasn't too excited with this lesson as faces are still really hard for me. Donna used one of her own face rubber stamps and used some Krink markers for the wild hair. She also used some spray inks for the background. 

I didn't have a lot of these items so I had to improvise. I messed up my background so bad, I had to gesso over it all...TWICE. I used a stencil for the face and and my shading is getting better. It's almost too pretty, though, and I need to practice without the crutch of a stencil. Still, I'm please with the result.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 15

This week's lesson was working with watercolors. Here's Donna's - she drew a figure, then scanned and printed it and pasted it down with gel medium. She put absorbent ground over the whole spread so the watercolors would flow.

Here's my version. I drew my own woman but I'm still having problems with faces so it looks a little funky. Had a hard time with the watercolors and definitely need more practice with them.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 14

Sort of a vintage, grungy look with an interesting layout. Here's Donna's:

This one went really fast for me. I did the whole thing over the course of 2 days (usually it takes me about a week to do one of these spreads). I added some corrugated cardboard and some puzzle pieces which gave it really nice textures.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 13

Had computer problems so haven't been able to post for several weeks. But I've been working away in my journal and keeping up with the class...an accomplishment in itself.

Here's Week 13 - Donna's version:

This was a really interesting lesson. Donna started out doing a scene with flowers and a building but she didn't like where it was going and gessoed over it and ended up with this. The lesson is that we shouldn't get too attached to a particular layer or theme and if it isn't working, it's OK to start over.

So this is what I ended up with. I used some different colors and I really like the result.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 12

It's the middle of April and I just finished the last lesson of the first quarter and it feels great to have finished the first 12 lessons without giving up even if I am running a little behind. Here's Donna's:

I wasn't feeling the flowers - just not my style and last week's was flowers, too so I decided to go in a different direction using the same techniques.

I used a Jane Davenport profile stencil and a Stencil1 bird stencil and I'm pretty happy with it although it ended up more orange than the other colors although some of that is from  my poor photography skills. There's more variegation in the colors ranging from light yellow to dark purple. When the weather gets nicer, I'm going to try taking the photos outside as I think they will look much better in natural light.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 11

I love the colors in this week's lesson. Here's Donna's:

The background is paintable wallpaper along with some book pages and a couple of photos. Here's mine:

The photo is a little out of focus but I don't feel like retaking it since I've already started on the Week 12 lesson. I still have problems with the flowers and stems but the process is getting easier. I don't love the way my lettering turned out but again, it's all part of the process and figuring out how all these products work and gaining confidence.

48 Weeks with Donna Downey - Week 10

I got stalled for about a month on this one, mainly because I got really sick with an upper respiratory infection and had absolutely no energy to work on it. Here's Donna's:

She does amazing things dripping paints - when I do it, it often becomes a real mess. Part of it is because she uses a lot of fluid acrylic paints and I have more heavy body acrylics so they just don't drip much. I can't justify replacing all of my paints so just make do the best I can. Here's mine:

I thought about working on it further but at this point I am so ready to move on...especially since I'm about 2 weeks behind. Not that it's a big deal as there's no expiration date on the class. I just want to get to some more lessons and that's what I'm going to do.