Look at the Pretty Faces!

A couple of weeks ago, my buddy Kelly Kilmer came up from Southern California to teach classes at my favorite store, Stamper's Warehouse. She teaches there several times a year and I always look forward to her arrival. Before her classes began, we spent a fun afternoon shopping for art paper and Japanese books in Berkeley and San Francisco and, of course, had dinner. Lots of laughing.

But what I was most looking forward to was her class called "About Face." That's where she showed us how to paint over photos and magazines pictures. I like to include faces and figures in my collages and other art work, but because I don't yet know how to draw them well, I have to rely on Photoshop artistry to get what I want. That's fine, but sometimes I want to work with paint instead. Kelly's method gave me another tool for my toolbox, one that I'm sure to have fun with.

Here's what I created in class, from magazine pictures:

First try

Second try

Third try

I changed various details from the original image - for example, a new hair color, eye color, skin color, even a totally different hairstyle. Their expressions changed a bit by the time I was done, too. Of course I changed their clothes, too, and in the case of the second one, I painted hers out completely.

When I showed the final pictures to my sister, I mentioned that the one on the green background was my favorite. She said, dryly, "Yeah, I can tell." Indignant, I insisted, "It's not ‘cause she's nekkid!" "Yeah, right," she answered.

(It's possible I've developed a..."reputation." You see, when I was living alone in San Francisco, my flat had a distinctive style to it. You know, lots of velvet, a bowl of pearls, reproduction Victorian furniture, pre-Raphealite prints, and classical figurines of goddesses scattered about. I thought it was tasteful and otherwise didn't think too much about it. I neglected to notice that all those nymphs, goddesses, and poets were quite naked. And then I had my sister and her kids over for a visit. After they left, her son commented, "Mom, Aunt Alix sure has a lot of naked ladies in her apartment. But that's okay, I kept my eyes down." Oops!)

Anyway, back to the class. I wish I could show Kathy's pictures (I don't have them handy) because they came out even cooler. Hers had a more painterly, almost impressionistic look, where as mine are more literal and illustrative. She managed to do some shading (I was still working on getting the flesh tones just the way I wanted them) and that was awesome. I found out how she did it-the trick was making sure I was blending wet on wet, because this is acrylic-and so for the next one I did (at home) I tried that.

I'm not saying it's great (and the JPG compression is making the shading look a little weird) but I'm happy with the outcome given that it is only my fourth try. That's me at 16, made to look as I did at 17 by adding bangs and mascara. It's about 12 inches tall or so, and it's for part of a larger project, so that background will be cut out. I've also since repainted my top in cobalt blue.

If you want to learn how to do this, too, I highly recommend Kelly's class. It's a lot of fun. She teaches all around the country, so if you have a place in your area where visiting artists teach, you can talk to them about having her come teach there. It's definitely worth it. Her art journal and collage classes are always a joy. Find out more about her at kellykilmer.com.

I'm off to paint!

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