Canvas Panel in Blues and Greens (2/100)

As I mentioned yesterday, I have officially decided to embark on a new journey in my little world of mixed media. This is 2/100 in my 100 day project, where I create one 4"x4" canvas panel a day for that duration of time.

This piece in particular is one that I'm quite fond of. Not only is it done in some of my favorite colors, deep blues and greens, but it just generally makes me happy to look at. I had a lot of fun with the doodling that is showcased throughout the piece. If you would like to purchase it, you can click here.

In looking at some of the finer details of this piece, a lot of it was done as stress relief. With school and work taking up a lot of my time lately, it hasn't exactly been pleasant. I had just gotten finished struggling my way through a math assignment (that I'll still have to go back to) when I decided that I needed to let off steam. Thus, this little canvas was born. 

• The bigger circle that takes up the majority of the canvas was done with a combination of acrylic paint and oil pastels - I had scraped some dark blue paint in the background, then before it was dry, I applied black Portfolio oil pastels then wet them to activate their water soluble nature. This mixed with the blue in the background, creating an affect that I am personally quite fond of.
• The doodling on top of the circle was done with a Sharpie paint marker in white. I'm still trying to get used to how the Sharpie markers work, but I just bought another on clearance for 75 cents at Target (in turquoise!) so I'm excited to play around with them more. 
• In the photo on the right, you can see another doodled element that I worked with. This was simply a shape that I freehand cut out of college ruled notebook paper and collaged down, before working on top of it with a regular Sharpie and shimmer watercolors. 

• In the left hand photo, you can see the doodled border up close, as well as the little stamped word "dreams", which serves as the title. I was experimenting with fading out the stamping for a more square title design, but I decided to ultimately just go with the single word. The other effect may make an appearance at some point in the future. 
• Another thing that is more visible in the first photograph is the stamping I did in a silver ink (which I also used on this page). This is quickly becoming a favorite element of mine to play with, simply because it's extremely subtle, but still beautiful when the angle is just right.
• Finally, in the photo on the left, you can see a bit of the detail that I played around with in the lower right hand corner of this little canvas. I attempted to imitate the dots of the doodling on the circle in a more random way, and you can also see some subtle diamond stamping (which is actually one of my favorite little bits of this painting.

Finally, before I leave you today, I wanted to a fun result of creating these canvases thus far. I typically will use drop paper to catch excess paint and stamping, as well as testing out pens, and whatever else I decide I want to experiment. These two papers are from yesterday's and today's (in that order), and I personally love the way they look. Who knows, maybe these will all become a project of their own someday!

I hope you all enjoyed viewing this piece, as I really do love the way it turned out. I'll see you all next time!

An Ocean Inspired Watercolor Face

Today's mixed media (but primarily watercolor) face is right up there with some of my favorite pieces I've done for the entire 29 Faces challenge. This is actually my 22nd face that I have completed, despite the fact that it's only the 17th of September (I'm a bit of an overachiever, if you haven't noticed), but I wanted to say that I probably will be continuing to create faces for the rest of the month, even after I hit 29. I've been having an extraordinary amount of fun with it, especially when I manage something that I love as much as this piece.

In the long run, I sort of wish that I had done this piece on a more legitimate surface, rather than a page in a composition notebook, and I don't think I'm going to give this girl any more of a background than she already has. However, I do like the lines peeking through in this piece, so in the end I suppose it all works out.

• This piece was done in a composition book art journal, as previously stated, but I did decide to prep the surface with a thin later of white acrylic paint that I scraped onto it with a palette knife. The pages were slightly shiny and I wanted /something/ for the watercolor to adhere to, rather than sitting on the surface or sinking into the paper. 
• As you can probably tell by the photographs, I incorporated a good bit of graphite into this piece. The entire idea for creating this face was to just play with watercolors. I didn't want to be too structured with it, but I didn't want to be too abstract either. I just wanted to have fun and try to curb some of the fear I have of watercolors. For the most part, I feel like I achieved that. 
• The colors of this piece are honestly one of my favorite parts. The color of her hair originally sprung from trying to incorporate some blue into the actual tones of her skin, but it just sat on top of the face and seemed like it could be shaped into a hairline. I went with it. 

•  Something you can also see in these photos was something I used on another of my favorite faces I've done, which is a gold marker by Studio G that I got at Michaels for something like $1.50. It writes smoothly on top of paint, and it adds a shine and highlight to the page that I utterly adore. Sometimes it just seems to be the perfect finishing touch.
• Almost contrasting yesterday's face (though I like today's a lot better), the blue of her hair made me feel as though she could represent water. That was why I decided to go with such a freeflowing neckline for her shirt, almost letting it fade into waves. 

In the long run, it's days like these that make me excited to do challenges like this one - if I paint enough faces, a few are going to stand out as my favorites!

Thank you all for visiting, and I hope you like this girl as much as I do.