Show Your Face on Friday - Inspired by Hazel!

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven, where we all seem to be recovering from our Summer coughs and colds and my Mum is more or less back to her old self! Life still continues busy, as our daughter has now moved out of her student house and returned to live with us full-time along with all her possessions! It's lovely to have her officially permanent, but we are probably breaking all records for the most crowded of nests! I did find time in amongst all the the packing, unpacking, sorting and travelling to be inspired by Kim Dellow's fantastic 'Show Your Face on Friday'. If you haven't done so before, please do head over to Kim's blog, where you'll find out all about 'Show Your Face' and how to link up your art. You will be inspired by Kim's art and that of all the contributors exploring creating faces in so many different ways. Throughout August Kim has encouraged us to be inspired by our fellow artists, and this week I've chosen Hazel Agnew. I've been inspired by Hazel's enthusiasm and imagination since I first encountered her blog, and last week I was captivated by her fantastic monochrome portrait of a young woman here. There was so much life and movement in Hazel's work, and I loved the depth and detail she had created with bold strokes. I was also impressed with how Hazel sketched the model's body as well as her face. I took out my vintage library book about Mexico and sketched this fantasy lady!

I wasn't as brave as Hazel, as mine is only a 'head and shoulders' portrait, but I'm hoping to work next week on arms and hands again - something I haven't done for a while, so thank you, Hazel for reminding me of this too! I used a 6B pencil, tortillians and a fine marker to create this young lady. The tiny houses in her hair were inspired by a beautiful picture in a book with which Hazel is also familiar! It's a wonderful collection of artwork with quotations - a fantastic inspiration for journalling called 'Inspirational Quotes Illustrated'. It's been filling my days with colour and sparking lots of new ideas! It was a most welcome gift at a time when I really needed it from a dear crafting friend. I hope she is reading this and knows how much I loved it. This Summer I've been doing a wonderful class at Artful Gathering with Mary Jane Chadbourne. We have been creating tiny houses, and gradually the students have formed little towns where imagination peers around the doors and dreams are reflected in the windows! It has been a delight to see everyone's work and to wander the streets of Tinytopia!

My portrait is, I think, the spirit of Tinytopia. She is dreaming of a land where magic is behind every door; where the witches create 'Good Neighbour' potions; the cobblers fashion magic shoes for dancing princesses; the cooks create pies with blackbirds that fly free and singing from the golden crust; the wizards turn noisy neighbours into toads and where Snow White offers cleaning services for dwarfs busy in the mines all day. As you can see I couldn't resist creating a colour version to see what she would like as the dawn comes up over the little town of Tinytopia. I hope you will have a magical, creative week wherever you live and that all the witches on your street are good ones!