Saturday, March 16, 2024

Postcards To Myself by Leada Wood


 I am still working on the 100 day project among the many other things that life has to offer and demands. One might think all I do is paint…that’s not true as I have varied interest and responsibilities. Art is life and life is art is a favorite quote. I make time for my creativity in whatever I do. Living creatively is a certain mindset, an attitude, a different way of looking at things. I try to see the beauty in all things and in whatever I do…it makes life more beautiful.I am sharing my cards with you so that hopefully it will be an encouragement if needed or just fun to see them.


Here in West Texas the earth is waking up…Spring has come. The bright spring greens are busting forth and a few wild flowers are popping up. We have had some grey days but with them some gentle rains to replenish the earth. I am making myself wait to plant flowers and my garden as I know it is still a little early. Don’t you just love Spring!

                                  100 Days Project “Postcards To Myself” days 22-29


“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
Mixed Media
“Make each day your masterpiece”#29



“Postcards To Myself”
LeadaWood©️
Mixed Media
“I would rather die of passion than boredom”#28



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
Mixed Media
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself”#27



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
Mixed Media
“Dance to the music only you can hear.”#26



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
Mixed Media
“Life is a daring adventure.” #25



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
Mixed Media
“Every morning is a new beginning.” #24



“Postcard To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
Mixed Media
“Everyday is what you make it.” #23



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
Mixed Media
“Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful.”#22


“ The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched. They must be felt with the heart.”  ——Helen Keller

 









 


Monday, March 11, 2024

“Postcards To Myself” by Leada Wood

The thing about the 100 days project is accountability, you show up every day to create. It takes guts to create, you have to be brave with yourself. The creating comes easy for me…it’s the sharing of my work that is challenging. It takes time so I decided I would share my work by weeks rather than days. Aren’t you glad?


100 Days Project. “Postcards To Myself” days 15-21



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️


“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️

“Creativity takes courage”
——Henri Matisse
                                             

 
 


Saturday, March 9, 2024

Postcards To Myself by Leada Wood


The 100 day project is all about choosing a project and doing it for 100 days. It is strictly for fun and giving myself permission to play and experiment with my art. It must be something I enjoy. It’s about learning new skills and using tools I don’t normally use. It’s about producing 100 pieces of art that wouldn’t exist if I didn’t try the challenge. A daily commitment of making art as a creative exercise and stretching my brain to come up with 100 different ideas. 

I am running behind in posting my cards because it’s more fun to make them! Here are days 8 thru 14 of  “Postcards To Myself”




“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️


“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️


“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding , make even more art.”
                                                            ——-Andy Warhol

 
 


Thursday, March 7, 2024

100 Day Project by Leada Wood

The 100 day project happens every year, this is my second year to participate. Making things has always been fun for me. It is good practice to spend a few moments each day creating and challenging to find a few minutes to call my own. Stepping into my happy place is amazing!

This year I decided to make “Postcards To Myself” as a series with inspirational quotes or encouraging thoughts on each one. I think we all can use a little encouragement from time to time, and a splash of color can make all the difference in your day. I hope you enjoy seeing what I create along the way and it brings a little happy into your life!




“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood ©


“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©


“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️


“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️


“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©


“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️

These are days 1-7 of my 100 days project, only 93 days to go!


“Color is a power which directly influences the soul”
                                ——Wassily Kandinsky




Thursday, February 29, 2024

Sun Kissed by Leada Wood

I just love little freckles that pop out on children's faces in the summer time. I always told my kids they were sun kissed. 
I wanted to paint Atticus from a photo I had taken a few years ago as he was standing under one our trees with his big cowboy hat on. He usually has a big grin but I caught him in a half grin which I found endearing. He is such a dear, sweet boy.



“Sun Kissed”
By Leada Wood copyright
Watercolor





Defining the portrait .Need to beef up the colors a little more. 




Laying in the color



Beginning the face. Wet into wet. I am painting this on watercolor canvas panels and the paint behaves differently so a learning curve.



The second drawing before I transfer it to the panel. 


“Children are the living messages we send to a time we may not see.”
—-John F Kennedy

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They  shall not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court. 
                                                                                                   —-Psalm 127:3-5
 


Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Leave A Little Sparkle by Leada Wood

Leave a little sparkle wherever you go is one of my favorite quotes. When I think of Averi I think of her sparkle. She has a smile that just lights up the room and I wanted to try to capture some of her glow in this portrait.  I asked her to pose a certain way for me and her Mom took many photos while her Dad held a spot light so it was truly a family affair getting photographs for me. Thanks to all of you! Don’t you just love technology…sometime?
This is an impressionistic portrait not a photograph or hyper-realism. I could never paint her as beautiful as God created her but it was sure fun trying to capture her likeness. I hope we created a good memory for her to look back upon. 



“Leave A Little Sparkle”
By Leada Wood Copyright
Acrylic





Getting closer to the finish line but not quite there yet.




Laying in some more of the shadows.



Starting to define shadows.




Laying in the base coats of paint, and I decided to extend the gold some more.




Beginning to lay in the flesh tones and hair.




Tracing the charcoal lines with acrylic paint to begin exploring my subject. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my post❤️ I hope you enjoyed hearing my story and seeing a few of the steps in my process.

“A heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others.”
                                                            —-Tin Man




 
 


Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Drawn To The Mirror by Leada Wood

I thought so much about the old masters as I was drawing and painting my self for this project. I saw what kept Van Gogh drawing and painting himself 26 times, he wanted to get it right! Not only that his model was always available and worked long hours for free!

Creating a likeness is like chasing elusive butterflies, difficult to capture! I want it to be creative, to capture the feel of the person. It’s not a photograph or hyper-realism but an illusion. 

They think it took DaVinci 16 years to paint the Mona Lisa and 12 of those on the lips alone, or that is the speculation. They do know it was the last 16 years of his life that he worked on it. I can imagine him pushing a little paint around every time he walked by the canvas saying …awe not quite there, a little more here.

You would think that a face you have looked at your whole life would be easy but I think that only makes it more difficult. You look but do you see? I also learned that you want to work from a good photo and not a bad selfie. Life lessons…




Self-Portrait
By Leada Wood copyright
Inktense and watercolor 




Self-Portrait
By Leada Wood copyright
Acrylic
Final version? Who knows? The paint is still on my palette so there is a chance of another dab here or there or I may say enough and try it again another day. 
It’s the challenge that keeps me going back in to see if I can make it better, to satisfy that’s the best I can do…and hopefully it will resemble me just a little.





Not there yet! 




Not quite there




Who is this person coming from the paint?




Building up the features and readjusting.



Laying in features



Creating the mask. There wasn’t a drawing except with paint and I didn’t get the first bit of mapping in, but this is where I paint in the flesh tones using burnt umber, cadmium orange and white. Not colors I would ever choose to do a portrait but that was part of the challenge. Sepia tones are not the easiest to work with for skin. I usually use red, yellow, blue and white for flesh tones.

 
 


Sunday, February 11, 2024

Making Marks by Leada Wood


Putting pencil to paper is gratifying, just making marks, layer upon layer until finally an image forms. Finding the values…light against dark…pushing here pushing there. How do you know when to stop? For me it’s not about hyper realism but leaving the feeling of creating, a likeness, an artistic interpretation of the subject. Making marks or drawing is the root of everything when it comes to art.




Head Study by Leada Wood
Graphite











Noses, lips, eyes, ears! Oh my! They all are quite challenging and where you place them on the face makes a world of difference. I am still learning.

“Art is when we do work that matters in a creative way, in a way that touches people and changes them for the better.”
                                                                       —-Seth Godin