Thinking About Flying

Inspired by the works of Kelly Rae Roberts and Susie Blu, I spent this Sunday afternoon trying another face.

I was very patient this time.  I started out with a piece of cardboard (OK, it's the back of a cereal box).   I tried something that I saw in a video by Samantha Kira Harding.  I put gesso on the cardboard, then wrote all over it with Prismacolor Premier markers (she used Copics, but I don't have any), then brushed gesso over the writing.  It smeared some of the marker which looked really pretty and you  could see a sort of ghost image through the gesso.  Then I used stencils and spray ink, acrylic dabbers, and ink dabbers.  I collaged some torn book pages, decorative tissue paper, and a lacy rice paper.  I went over everything with watered down Golden Titan Buff to calm it down a little and make the papers more integrated.

I drew the girl with a charcoal pencil, then painted her face, arms and hair.  After it dried I used a charcoal pencil, Pitt markers, and a white gel pen to draw her facial features.  After I painted the dress, I stamped a butterfly on regular white paper, reduced it, then colored it with markers and glued it to the dress.  I added the wings, some more stamping, and a little molding paste through a plastic grid.

I just need to brush a layer of gloss medium and it will be finished.

You know it's hard to develop one's own style.  I watch a lot of tutorials on Youtube and am addicted to arts/crafts magazines.  When someone is showing you how to do something, naturally, your piece is going to look quite a bit like theirs (just not as good, of course).  I'm guessing that many people gain inspiration and technique from others, then eventually develop their own style.

I'm working on it!!