farah aria studio

Mousies, Meeces, Mice...

I tend to doodle mice...

 

...a lot...

"Toulouse Woman" ! Vintage book painting!

This painting was inspired by the art of Toulouse-Lautrec.
A very Parisian lady!

This painting is printed on Somerset watercolor textured premium archival fine art paper. It has a wonderful watercolor texture.

The original art was painted with watercolor, and Indian Ink, on book page from a 1925 copy of Victor Hugo's LES MISERABLES in French. I then scanned the original and worked in collage and making the black line work more prominent digitally. 
 

Mice of the YA - YA Sisterhood!

"Mice of the YA - YA Sisterhood!

This was a fun picture to paint! I love these two mousies! They are sisters and best friends! Paper dresses and painted with acrylic paint on a 6" x 6" wood canvas! It is also available as a fine art print on watercolor textured archival paper!
 

La vie est un voyage. ~ Life is a voyage...

"La Vie Est Un Voyage" ~ Life is a voyage makes me think of foreign travels, listening to different languages being spoken, and letters from distant lands. Inward journies, memories, and dreams.

I started with a page torn out of "Girls Who Became Famous" a vintage 1886 book.  Page 203 "Elizabeth Barett Browning". I then drew, with a brush, the girl, with Pelikan's "Brun Brilliant" (or brilliant-brown) ink. I love the luminescent brownish-red color! She was then set aside for a while. One day I picked her up again and added a wash of sepia ink to tone the page, and a blush of red watercolors for her cheeks and lips. A few days later I drybrushed some ochre toned acrylic onto her skin, and rubbed most of it off with a cloth, and sanded a bit for texture. Hmmm...what next? She sat again for a while.

I searched through my treasure trove of book pages (some vintage) with many foreign languages. Oh the beauty of those different shapes, those mysterious words! I mounted the vintage page with her portrait onto a wood cradled canvas and collaged some of those delicious torn words onto the page. Ah! I'd forgotten about the tiny envelope that held vintage postage stamps from France! I then added those, and a wash of sepia to tone the page again and unify all the collaged elements. White acrylic paint was added for details, and then a wash of red acrylic ink to stain the border and wood sides of the canvas. To fill in her russet hair I used the bold brush like Faber-Castell PITT artist pen, with a wonderful

The original 5 x 7 painting is up at Etsy. I also have a print the same size. I love the soft subtle muted rose of the print, which is softer in person than in the pictures.

waterproof Indian Ink. At last I brushed a thin coat of acrylic varnish to protect and seal it all off.

La vie est un voyage. Life is a voyage. Enjoy the journey!

Love to hear what you think.

"I need more candy!" or ASAA ~ Art Supply Addicts Anonymous (and why you won't find me there)

 

Here is a fun little watercolor painting that I finished recently titled "Violet in the Garden".  I used this heavy duty, thick, lush, watercolor paper that I have been hoarding for a long time. I cut it up into smaller pieces to do watercolor paintings 5 x 7 inches and smaller. I don't remember what weight but I believe it's Strathmore.

Okay. I'll admit it. I am an art supply addict. There. I've admitted it. (I have no plans, however, to ever quit my addiction.) So...other women loves shoes, jewelry...getting manicures. Not me. I love paint, brushes, ink, pastels, paper, any type of art supply you can imagine!!

When I went to Art Center College of Design. I was a kid in a candy store! We had the best little art supply store on campus that I went into nearly every day. Um...actually...I do believe it WAS every day. The store was right across the hall from the cafeteria so it was a ice blended mocha...and art supplies...(whooo hoooo! I get a thrill just thinking about it! Or maybe it's a flashback to the amount of caffeine rush in that ice mocha - whew!!)

When I got my art grant money each term it was "oh! I need this for my art classes!" Can you believe it?! Going to school and having to buy art supplies!Okay...so I didn't need all the colors in the line. But "you just never know". You know? So when I ordered from the art catalogs I may have bought just a little extra. Just in case one day I ended up in an island of no art supplies, or one day the world would be in tatters and all I'd have was what was in my studio to live off of, I mean, create with, or...whatever! I just NEEDED them OKAY! You understand?!

Of course that was just the beginning, as I love to experiment in all sorts of mediums. I've continued filling my art studio with materials whenever I get the chance.

So here I am today with a full set of every art supply and accessory imaginable. And so what if I have trouble sharing with my son (who by the way thinks he should have one of everything I have AND take up half of the studio) Hah! Fat chance buddy! So stop whining: "It's no fair you have more colored pencils than me!" It is SO fair!! It took me almost 20 years to accumulate this fine collection! I'm a professional dammit!

sorry...

So I don't own a pair of Monolo Blanicks (Heck! I don't even know how to spell it!) or anything "Prada"...yeah so my nails (and hands) are covered with gesso, ink, and acrylic paint instead of nail polish...who cares! I've got my candy! (and I'm not sharing!)

 

p.s. I really do love my son, and I do share...most of the time, but much prefer to buy him his own set of whatever so I don't cry (anymore) when something get broken.

Mixed media paintings on vintage book pages...

I've been having a great time doing Indian Ink, and pen drawings, on pages from vintage books. I began by sacrificing a few poetry books of my own. All of my own collection are between 100 and 150 years old...so using more than 2 was too painful. I found one book at a thrift stores, but my best finds were found on Ebay.

 

 

   

I had been trying to find a book in French for the longest time. Then this popped upon Ebay. What could be better?! Les Miserables by Victor Hugo in French!! Here is one of the paintings I have done so far with the French text:

 

SOLD

This edition of Les Miserables was published in 1925. I found the pages are more porous than the others, absorbing more liquid than the other book's papers which have a slight sheen to them. I really do think they made books SO much better in the olden days.

 

French text is so beautiful! I've also purchased book pages on Etsy that are from books of different languages for another project I am wanting to do soon!

 

Some of the Old Textbooks from 1877 - 1888

 

One of the poetry books from my collection that has all the classics published in 1903. It's pages are 4 x 6 inches and has a nice sheen!

My two favorite book pages to use are from Lucille with it's large 9.5 x 6 inch pages, with a sturdy page published in 1890, and Girls Who Became Famous published in 1886 ( which has the nicest pages to work on)  

 

 

 

This painting is titled "Difficult Lessons" ~ When the painting is finished, and after it's been put away for a while, I chose a title out of the hidden text. Something intriquing that fits the mood of the piece.

I don't plan out my paintings. I am surrounded by all sorts of mediums. I have the choice of Indian ink which is waterproof, and I either use a small brush or bamboo pen. Or else I use a waterproof ink pen... Sometimes I paint directly onto the virgin page, but most often I brush gesso on it first so that the text shows through but the paper is more durable to accept all kinds of media. Then I would draw or paint in ink. After that I might use Winsor Newton watercolors, Sennelier watercolors, Derwent watercolor pencils, and/or WN Finity acrylics. I haven't yet, but I will be experimenting with pastels and charcoal soon. I just keep working until it feels finished, or else put it away for a while and work on or start another painting.

I've also purchased through Ebay two music books from the 1920's. Again I plan to use the pages for painting and also collage work. I am overwhelmed with so many ideas for so many projects at the same time. There is hardly any time for myself that doesn't involve someone (or some crazy puppy) running through my studio.

espresso love...

i have a love affair with espresso...

mocha latte to be exact...

first thing tomorrow morning...

i need my fix...