Mehndi Inspired

I started doing henna body art in 2010.  Let me explain a little about what it is. 

A paste is made from the plant Lawsonia inermis (henna plant) and an acidic liquid -- I use lemon juice.  The paste is then put into some sort of device for application (mylar cones, in my case), then applied in fine strands to the skin.  Left on the skin for a few hours or overnight, henna will produce a deep chestnut stain, which lasts up to several weeks.

Henna art has a distinctive look; often floral, lots of spirals and swirls, often intricately detailed.  I have wanted to play with henna inspired designs in oils for a while now but I need to order more mylar cones; so I thought I would experiment with watercolor today.  I really like the way the first one turned out.

If you'd like to see some of my henna art on people, you can check out the Henna page on this site. 

I recently discovered that my henna supplier has a new product; a glue that can be applied with a henna cone and then dusted with gilding powder or fine glitter for gorgeous shimmering body art designs that last for 3-10 days.  I have an event coming up the first of March where I will be doing henna so I'm really excited to order some and try it out :)

Mini Paintings

I got the awesome news yesterday that my friend from high school, Monica, is stopping by to visit on her way from an archaeological dig in Arkansas back home to Cleveland, and staying a few days.  I'm so excited to see her, it's been 20 years!

BUT... that means it's likely I won't get time to paint Tuesday or Wednesday next week, so I want to get a couple ahead.  As a result I worked on some small paintings in oil today.

I love minis and ACEOs because it's an affordable way for anyone to collect miniature original works of art.  If you'd like to purchase any of these, check out the ACEO/Mini Page.

Stop and Smell the Daisies, 3 x 3 mini canvas

I roughed Stop and Smell the Daisies in ages ago, and then misplaced it in all the confusion of my son moving out for college, back home, then away again, and then back home again.  I found it this past weekend and put some more details on it, but it's not done yet... close, but not quite.

Joy and Friendship, 3 x 3 mini canvas. Click picture to purchase.

This one, however, I started and finished today.  I left the charcoal outlines in it a bit because I decided I like them.  This is a 3 x 3 on a mini canvas.

What Cheer? 2.5 x 3.5 oil on ACEO card, for sale here 

And I roughed in this little oil ACEO at the beginning of the month and got around to finishing it today.  I was trying to remember what the birdwatcher people say the cardinal says (they have words to match the calls of a lot of birds, which is why Chickadees are named chickadee-dee-dee), and I looked it up.  What cheer, cheer, cheer?  And then as I started to type this paragraph I realized I was hearing a cardinal outside my window.

I love these little guys... they sure brighten up a dreary winter.  I was washing dishes this morning and Mrs. Cardinal paid a visit to my garden, which is right outside my kitchen window. 

I have a fascination with painting birds lately... and I just got a book on painting wildlife, so expect to see more of them :)

Watercolor Exercises

A little practice with washes and values...

And an exercise.  This is Project One in Step by Step Guide to Painting Realistic Watercolors by Dawn McLeod Heim, another book I adore and recommend and have been planning on using for ages. 

By way of self-critique, I need more control with my edges and my charges aren't blending as well as they need to.  I learned a lot from doing this.  (It is done from a traced drawing out of the book, then painted per the author's directions). 

I was going to do a watercolor horse ACEO today but I thought I'd buckle down and do some learnin' before I tackle it.  I also am going to need to seriously work on my drawing skills if I'm going to do any serious watercolor.

Challenge! Day One

 

I finished the cherry blossoms. Yay! So this is my painting for the day, but because I did most of it last month it feels sorta like cheating... I really need to chill, I guess.  

 So, since the Sakura painting went very quickly I thought I'd play with some alla prima (wet into wet) painting, just to see how the paint behaves and how to get it on the canvas without muddying it.

This is the result. I pretty much hate it. But, I did learn from the experience, and that was the point. I want to let it dry and paint on it some more, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the exercise... I might do it anyway.

I painted in the background, then the tree, then used a dry brush to try to create the effect of wind in the branches, which succeeded for a while but then looked like I just smudged the paint (which... I guess is what I did). I'll come back and look at it tomorrow and decide what is to be done with it.

I made a page on my website for this month's Challenge paintings! 

Sakura Sakura

A little more definition on the foreground blossoms. I'm headed to Hobby Lobby to spend my Christmas gift card from my son Brandon on painting stuff, and maybe some fiber stuff.  :D

Sakura

A little work on my cherry blossoms. I darkened the lower corner of the sky, defined branches, filled in some background blossoms, and defined the shapes of the foreground flowers a bit.