The Blue Rinse Brigade...

I know I said I wasn't going to create this week (much) as I'm preparing to move house, but I found some inspiration (honestly I wasn't even looking for it!) and just had to finish off this canvas. I tried a different blending technique for the face and also used my watercolour crayons (Caran De Ache) rather than paint. I'm really happy with the result and am keen to continue along this line.

It's funny you know. A few times now I've read and heard the comment that you get to a stage about half way through your painting called the 'ugly' stage when nothing seems to work and you feel disappointed and want to throw the thing in the fire. Then you walk away, and come back again with a fresh look, and take it through to a place where you're happy with it.

Well this certainly happened with this painting. Originally it was a background of orange and blue with a great quote written on it. I had outlined the back of a fairy with long wings hanging to the ground. I lived with that background for weeks and it just didn't sit right - I walked past it every day on my easel and I ended up hating it!

So here's a couple of photos of the background with the new sketch. As you can see I had a narrow head to begin with, and then changed it to a much wider oval shape in the second photo...

So I rollered over it in hot pink (what was I thinking?) and it looked even more disgusting! Then two nights ago, in a flurry of gel medium and paper I layered the background again, drew and outlined the subject and the rest is history. (I also added gel medium to my acrylic paint for the background - you can see how this- esp the dusky pink - dried thick and shiny in the close up of the words in the photo below. Gel medium gives acrylics that glossy lift and thick consistency instead of the often 'flat' feel they get when they're dry)

Now I actually love the finished product and am so glad for the experience of persisting through the 'ugly' phase to make something beautiful and worthwhile! It's a bit like life really isn't it...

'she cherished that which she held tenderly'

X Me