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Hello !

I am sorry for not posting a Gratitude Friday today. I got out of bed less than 30mn ago, I was forced to stay there until the strong headache and nausea that stroke me went away.

This blogpost will be shorter than usual, but if you have any question, don’t be shy and leave me a comment I’ll answer with pleasure (here or on the YouTube video itself).

Last Wednesday, I just wanted to record a painting from start to finish. Not knowing what. It is a simple mixed media artwork on a 8″x10″ canvas board. I used my favourite media:

• acrylic paint
• PanPastels with embossing ink
• Color Shots

I think I finally pinpointed what was missing in my faces and how to give them more depth and character. Do you perceive any difference ? I do.

Here is the video (with a special guest appearance):

1. First of all, I applied acrylic paint with my brayer. A quick and easy way to get the color on with great texture.
2. I found it was to bright so I added white with my hand *blissful*. I allowed me not to have a color that was too flat.
3. I first perceived the hair on the left, this is where I started sketching with my graphite pencil, then the rest of the face appeared easily from itself. I realized I just need to see a face feature and then go from there. I go over with a watersoluble graphite (my charcoal pencil seems to be dead).
4. I painted the face with acrylic paint and the watersoluble graphite (blessed be the person who invented this !).
5. Then, I stamped a rubber stamp with clear embossing ink in the hair area. This is only when you go over it with the PanPastels that you can see it. As my Grenouille said: «WOOOOOW this is magical !» 😉
6. The cloth is colored thanks to Lindy Stamp Gang’s color shot. It is a pigment bomb loaded with beautiful shimmer. I thought it was too pronounced so I put a tissue paper on top of it while still very wet, and it created a beautiful texture (look closer to your tissue paper, it is not flat at all).
7. The background looked too present for me, so I went over with Zinc White fluid acrylic. I love this color as it is not opaque as Titanium White is.
8. I did the eyes and then finished the painting by writing my thoughts with my nib pen and ink (old school way). It says «Being creative is not about making pretty things but more about listening to the Song of your Soul.»

This is also my participation to day #6 of Traci‘s «Get your art ON» challenge 😉

This artwork is for sale, email me if you are interested (there is the contact info in the right column =====>)

As usual, I am behind. I am happy I changed the rule and it is okay for me not to blog everyday about it.

Day #2 was a Saturday so I have not done anything really creative that day (maybe except cooking).

On Day #3, I simply used some of my working-table-paper (I cover a big board with paper and when I feel like it, I just change it. But as I love what it usually looks like, I keep it for re-use. I love packing gifts with it) to wrap my daughters’ gifts for my Mamounette (aka Mom)’s 60th birthday.
I used two different washi tapes and voilà.

Simple but pretty and not that usual.

As I am writing this, I realize I have not really taken a picture of what I’ve done on day 4… I started a 8×10 painting, just the background and the sketch of the girl. I scanned it but with Photoshop and did not save it as it before playing with it (I think I should be able to get it back as I saved it as a .psd and got all the layers there. Wait…).

Here it is:

I simply applied three different acrylic paint colors with my brayer and then sketched with a graphite.

I’ll do another post for the art I created for days 5/6/7 and then I’ll try to post everyday, would finally be easier to keep track I guess 😉

PS: don’t forget to head over Traci’s blog to see what she is up too, and the other participants as well, in the comments.

Summer vacations, two months to fill with plenty of occupations so my girls don’t get too bored and to make time pass faster for everyone.

The solution I found ? cooking, making any type of art, going outside when it is sunny (and for them, napping for a couple hours every afternoon).

Traci Bunkers is the queen of finding and comitting to something for 30 days. In the past, she did 30 days of carving (stamps), and 30 days of journaling. For this month of july, she just wanna have fun and create something everyday for 30 days. And she invites us to do the same 🙂

• I’ll make art every day for 30 days and post what I have done. But I may not blog about it everyday, it is OK to write a recap post.
• I don’t have to finish what ever I’m working on that day, I just have to work on something.
• I have to work on something at least 5 days a week, 6 or 7 would be better.
• It doesn’t matter what I do for the art making, as long as I work on art. It can be art journaling, mail art, a painting or whatever.
• I won’t feel guilty for taking the time to work on art and I won’t have to justify why I’m doing it on the week-ends.
• I don’t have to go into detail in my post about how I did anything or what tools, materials I used (unless I want to).
• I must have fun
• It is even better if the girls are also creating something by my side, but it’s not mandatory.

So yesterday, July 1st, was the first day of the challenge. I gave each girl a small canvas board the day before, where they just played with acrylic paint; I showed them that we can get different effects depending on the tools we use to apply the paint (our fingers, the whole hand, a brayer, a paintbrush…). I did the same on a larger scale.
Yesterday, they discovered the joy of what is a stencil so we had lots of fun exploring it with Adirondak color washes and some sprays by Lindy Stamp Gang.

And some details: