The 100 Day Project: Days Twenty Two & Twenty Three

Happy Monday Folks!

Unfortunately, my weekend was a complete write-off thanks to having a migraine. The first I've ever had and it was an experience I do not wish to repeat!

So here we are, catching up on two days in one again. First up, Day Twenty Two:

This first one was more playing with painting in acrylic using a piece of card - mostly. I did dab in some texture with the brush here and there, and I did a lot of the clouds with my finger. I also finished the picture off by applying acrylic ink directly with the dropper. I coloured my Titanium White Daler-Rowney Graduate Acrylic Paint with Ultramarine, Phthalo Turquoise, Sap Green, Sepia and Indian Yellow Daler-Rowney Acrylic Inks. I added a touch of Crimson ink in some of the mixes to tone them down. I used the \turquoise and the Sepia for those last scribbles of colour. 

I didn't like the finished page, but I did like things about it. The textures mainly.

Now for Day Twenty Three:

This was a much more simple affair. I wanted to see what watercolours would be like over charcoal and I also wanted to test if hairspray really does work as a fixative. I drew a simple landscape-ish thing in charcoal, sprayed with hairspray and then after leaving it for a few minutes, went over the top with some Rosa Gallery Watercolour in Golden Brown which I mixed with a touch of Mungyo Yellow, and Cobalt Grey which I mixed with a dab of Mungyo Prussian Blue. What I learned is that I like watercolour and charcoal together and hairspray actually works as a fixative. Smells nicer and is cheaper, too. I used L'Oreal Elnett - Normal Hold, lol.

Back tomorrow,

Rebecca x

The 100 Day Project: Day Twenty-One

We're back up to speed with this one, and I must confess, I actually did this one right after I did yesterday's piece because I had so much paint left on the palette that I didn't want to waste. So I just grabbed that piece of cardboard, scraped up the leftover paint and whacked it on in whatever fashion took my fancy. I threw in a little Cadmium Yellow from the same brand of paint, which I applied with a water brush lid that I had dipped into the paint.

I love the textures, but the composition and the colours are not the best. As I said yesterday, I need to explore this process further. This is very abstract but is still in need of the thicker layers, and more of them. 

I'm really enjoying playing with acrylic again. It was my go-to medium in my teens and into my twenties (and most of my acrylic paints are from those years), but when I started creating again a couple of years ago, I went straight for watercolour and that feels like my 'natural' medium. Now that I think about it, it's kind of strange that I didn't return to what I knew, and that what I knew seems alien to me now.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend,

Rebecca x

The 100 Day Project: Day Twenty

It was another sick day for me yesterday, I really needed to stay in bed as much as possible between school runs and errands, etc. I do feel a bit better for it today apart from a gnawing headache, but at least it's the weekend now!

Yesterday's art was inspired by this photo of a lovely sunrise I took back in February.

I fancied getting the acrylics out again, and I wanted to use both a brush and a strip of cardboard to lay the paint down. I really enjoy the different applications and textures, and using the cardboard for the "details" keeps me nice and loose. I used the Daler-Rowney System 3 paints in Process Magenta and Fluorescent Blue mixed with Zinc Mixing White for the background and Process Black for the midground. I dabbed on some leftover Magenta/White mix for the foreground.

I'm not thrilled with the look of the finished piece, but I do like the textures and I really want to explore using much thicker layers and being much more abstract with acrylics. I also don't love the sheen of acrylics, which made me realise I haven't done any experiments with gouache yet. Add that to the to-do list!

Rebecca x