My fairy...my mum!

I love my mum! I really do! The older I get, the more I love her...

Maybe because I am now a mum myself and I realized what she went through raising me, I understand that she loves me infinitively, maybe because I already lost my dad, I miss him every day.....and I now know that one day I will lose her too. I hope this day won't come for many-many years, and before that day comes I am not going to miss any opportunity to let her know how much I love her, what an amazing person I think she is, and how thankful I am. If my dad was still here, I would do the same for him also.  

 

This year, for "mothers' day" I decided to make a card for her, with her as a fairy, through my eyes. The fairy she is to me. To show her what I see.

For the first time I had a quite clear idea of what I was making before I even started, so for the first time I have step-by-step footage. It's like my first official tutorial!!

 

I started with a piece of white cardstock 9''x9'', to fold it to a long rectangular card 4,5''x9''.

I chose the background colours and for the first time I applied this technique that I have seen numerous times : dots of acrylic on the surface

 

 

 

 

 

and then spread them vertically and horizontally using a plastic card.



Then I used a hearts stencil which I bough recently, and modeling paste with silver ink, and covered my background with silver hearts. My silver ink was far more vibrant and metallic than what I got after mixing it with the modeling paste. Therefore I decided to paint over some of the hearts with the silver ink for some interest.

 Then, I wanted to make it leafy and used a dylusions stencil for this and some acrylic paint applied using a sponge.

The result was very disappointing

 

 

So, I grabbed a baby-wipe to clean the green paint but because this smudged my background, I applied some gesso wash where I was planning to put all the leafs. I thought, maybe this wasn't too bad after all. Now my leaves will show better and since my fairy would go at the  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I used the leafy stencil again, but this time with my green markers, and after I traced each leaf, I painted over with green and metallic green paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To finish off the leafs, I used my pitt pen to make the details. 

Now, time to make my mum. I used the Suzi Blue technique (surprise surprise!) to sketch the face and the body on a smooth white paper. 

Then I cut the figure and spread a layer of mat medium all over it, to make it non-porous and use my pitt pens for the colouring, trying at the same time to create the shadows.

I gave her brown eyes and thick red lips, just like my mums' :-) 

To put the rouge on her chicks, I first put some ink on my finger and then rubbed it on her chicks.                     (I have destroyed numerous faces in the past when I apply pink first on the chicks and then rub it - wrong!). Also added thin black eyebrows. She is wearing a long green dress with long sleeves, the "Galadriel style", like a proper creature of the forest, and added some green cord around the neckline for interest and texture, gluing it with glossy accents. 

Then, I cut a heart and painted a metallic red. She will be holding this heart in her hands, to represent mothers' unconditional love.

My mother was born short-sighted and this was realized at the age of 4! For the first 4 years of her life she couldn't see like the rest of the people, and she still remembers the first time she put on glasses, to realize what the rest of people see. Her short sight is quite big (9 degrees) therefore she always wears glasses. So I had to give her glasses as well. That was a bit tricky, I used some metal string. It took some patience but I made it! I secured the glasses only at the back of the head, to keep the image clean and to let it have dimension.

Now, time for her wings. I drew 2 wings on a piece of white paper. Applied a layer of gesso and painted them gold. Also, I took a small piece of tulle and painted it purple with some distress paint, pulled it into small strings and glued them on the wings with mat medium.  

Then, I glued the wings at her back and glued the figure on the card, leaving the wings unglued, to let them curl and have dimension. Applied gesso to where her hair would be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another thing about my mum is that she has short, fluffy, black, afro-like hair.  So, I really wanted to give some dimention there, therefore I mixed some modeling paste with black metallic paint and applied it with a spatula, trying to create some picks and curves.

I had to hold myself from adding more sparkle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very pleased with the result but I think I should have made it into a canvas.

Oh well, maybe next year!

I will participate with this over at the Getcreative Challenges blog. They have a special challenge with theme "For the Ladies or Mothers' Day", sponsored by OddBall Art (I can't even start talking about how much I love OddBall and the countless hours I have spent on their website just admiring their beautiful work... totally my cup of tea!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dolls and girls and practice

I am still hooked up with drawing girls the Suzi Blu style.

As I said in my previous post, because I don't have the materials she is using I am trying to adjust the technique to what I have available.

First, I sketched and sketched and sketched. Non-stop, everywhere, as much as I could. On the bus, at the doctors' waiting room, waiting for my son during his swimming lessons, on the car while my man is driving us to places, on the bed, on the plane, at he playground, everywhere I'm telling you!

Then I coloured....

For some reason, I am not sure why, I enjoy a lot using colouring pencils! I feel like a kid every time I use them, maybe that's why. I have some Polychromos and Watercolour pencils. I   l o v e   my watercolour pencils, it's like magic, but I already used them to make a girl and this was not a success, (you might recall from my previous post). 

I enjoy colouring with my Polychromos as well, but I've never been pleased with the result and this time was no exception. I guess I have to learn on the techniques using colouring pencils, but this is another subject (I shouldn't forget this "note to shelf" though).

Here are some examples of the girls I created with Polychromos.

                                               

Then I decided I would like to try my India Ink PITT pens and my fingers. For this technique I need non-porous surface, therefore I applied mat medium over some of my sketches before I start colouring them. I was a little bit more pleased with this technique. I guess the coloured pencils require great skill which I don't have at all (cause I have seen some amazing art created with coloured pencils), on the other hand, colouring with the marker and then moving the ink around with the fingers to create shadows etc. I feel it's much more safer and appropriate for my level. Anyway, here's some of my girls coloured with my Pitt markers.

 

 

In her book, Suzi advices to practice a lot and only after practice you might end up sketching without measuring etc. She supports that anyone who wants to be an artist can be one, but practice is important. It makes sense. It's like everything else in life. Unless you are truly gifted with a talent, you need to practice to excel. Personally I love many things that require talent (drawing being one of them) but I don't have that much of it, so I figured, practicing a lot makes sense. I already see and feel the difference. My girls are much better now, I sketch them faster and I even personalize with things I am not that comfortable with, such as wearing hats, looking to other directions than straight ahead, holding things...

 

 

I am fairly pleased with the PITT technique but I think I will also give a go to use acrylics in the near future. If I do, I will update this post in time.

 

Stay tuned as my next post will be about making my mum into the fairy she is to me, as this years' mothers day gift.

 

Take Care!!!