Word of the Week - 29

Pencil-colored, stuffed kraft paper toy, M. Kelly.

Word of the Week: FACES

A timely topic, in seems, for so many in the art world to which I am connected as a blog follower, FB friend, actual associate or enthusiastic fan are showcasing faces as a favorite form of creative expression.

Since I began work with Rubbermoon more than 20 years ago, I have loved giving faces to ordinarily faceless objects like gourds, celestial bodies and flowers.  The sample above is my newest experiment, animal and cartoonish, mostly female, faces rendered in Micron pen and color pencils on kraft wrapping paper, cut out, glued and lightly stuffed to make what I think of as toys.  A source of happiness now and, I foresee, in the future.

In an overview of what others are sharing so generously, here are some of the artists and sources in the face bonanza.  The links will take you into realms of delight and my hope is they will become inspirations for you as they have for me.

Here is Elsa Mora's blog post of Faces by Different Artists.  To say the mind reels is an absurd understatement.  I challenge you not to shriek.

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer shares her Weekend Five, black-and-white faces.  As is true of Elsa Mora's blog, there is so much more to discover here.  I urge you to read beyond the linked entry.

On her blog, Lynne Hoppe discusses faces, journals, materials and much more.  If you Google her, the links are extensive.  After sharing a small sample of her art on FB last week, I heard from other artists who identified her as an inspiration.  Image collection here.

Friend, writer and artist Patti Edmon began a face journey last year, a process she discusses with her usual candor and gives multiple samples of the emerging work.  In her most recent post, she tells of painting faces in the context of chronic illness,  a shared circumstance which first connected us.

Because there is so much I admire about the painting below, just this minute found via Google, I share it and the artist, Karin Jurick, who painted it.  It is a rich world, full of teachers.

Oil on panel, painting by Karin Jurick, with thanks for its use here.