Hi all y’all!
I hope you had a nice holiday. I know the experience differs between people and year to year. This year was a good year for our family.
In New Orleans, we are rushing into an early Mardi Gras. The Pussyfooter Blush Ball is a week from today and the parades start in January. I am at a loss to explain what Mardi Gras means to New Orleanians. I think it is something like God, family, Mardi Gras.
It was probably October when I started my Rollergirls painting. Faces are one of my favorite topics, so I thought I would paint a crowd behind the skaters. I hit a wall when I felt like it was never-ending. There are 15 people in the crowd, besides the main characters. I don’t know how people paint so small.
So I stopped.
I painted The Kiss. My favorite painting.
Then, I was struck by the sadness of the Holidays for the people who are alone, or broke, or sick. So I painted a holiday painting. I wanted the painting to be generically holiday and express mixed emotions. You will see it again next year on an e-card.
Here it is January, and I am back to Rollergirls.
I put different shades of skin-colors on my palate, aka paper plate, and worked all day on all the faces. I had to keep moving between faces so the paint on the canvas would dry, but my palate would not. Here I was, spritzing my palate with water and going face to face. And face to face.
I started using my charcoal pencils. I have white and black. I thought it would be great to have pencils that worked like charcoal with a fine point, but with lots of colors. I wanted to work on one face until I was happy with it. I started searching on-line.
Ta Da! I already owned the solution. Derwent Intense Pencils.
These pencils were suggested to me at one time, but I had never used them.
The pencils when dry are like bright, slightly creamy colored pencils. When you brush with water they work like ink and are permanent. When dry you can erase the pencil. I layered the colors before I added water and they mix themselves. I added white to lighten, or lifted the color off with a clean, wet brush.
With these pencils I can finish one face or at least work on one face until I want to move on. I am not tied to a palate of drying paint.
I am about half done with Rollergirls. I am not a fan of sharing unfinished work, but here it is.
I hope 2016 is a happy and healthy year for all y’all.
Thank you for reading my blog!
All my love,
Gator Girl Art 