Mixed Media Monday - a baby portrait and signing off for the year

 

Hello friends! I'm sharing mixed media baby portrait today....which I started painting in watercolour back in September but never completed because I was obsessed with watercolour florals. *winks*

It was bugging me so I decided to just finish off the piece with some coloured pencils (they have been neglected for months too).  I think he looks cute...a little startled but cute. *LOL*

A big "thank you" to you for supporting this little blog in 2021. I did try to post on all week days with a few missed days because I was just to tired to post at the end of a long day (yep all posts were in real-time this year instead of scheduling weeks ahead like I used to do..because I was mostly at home). This was a challenging year in terms of time management but I survived! :)

I'll be baking for the rest of the week till Christmas...and then just chillaxing till we bid adieu to 2021. Happy holidays friends! Stay safe! See you in 2022! :)

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A mixed media self-portrait on canvas

As you know, I've been practising drawing self-portraits in my sketchbook this year. I decided to use one of the sketches as my reference and work on my second mixed media self-portrait on canvas (see my first mixed media self-portrait on canvas). Of course, I chose to use the self-portrait sketch that drove me nuts because I like to "torture" myself unnecessarily. *LOL*

The background is a mish mash of scrunched up wrapping tissue, gesso, acrylic paints and inks. Then I did my initial sketch with a waterbrush pen filled with purple Liquitex acrylic ink. I like working with this ink because of its transparency (lets me build layers) and open time (even when it dries to touch, I can still lighten the colour with a wet towel and vigorous rubbing).

This was how it looked mid-point....bearing little resemblance to me. *hahaha*

Here was how it looked when I was working on the details...

Moving forward, I might have to reconsider how I do the backgrounds for my portrait paintings. While the tissue and gesso added some nice texture, it also created weird bumps and uneven surfaces which made it difficult to paint over.

Plus, I might have been too heavy-handed with my inks when working on the background. See the green bits on the forehead and cheek? The green keeps emerging even after several layers of heavy-body artist grade acrylic paint. If people ask, I shall say it's artistic style but you and I know both the truth *shh...don't tell ok?*

I hung my painting up on the wall and tweaked the details over the course of a few days. Apparently, walking past a painting every day helps you see it with fresh eyes. I think I'm going to seal this painting and move on to the next. What do you think?

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Mixed Media Monday: Sketching with my non-dominant hand

Artist Ivy Newport likes to start her portrait-sketching with her non-dominant hand because it is looser and you can get more organic lines. Something about drawing what you see rather than what you know. So I decided to give it a go in my latest self-portrait drawing.

Brace yourself friends...it ain't pretty! *LOL*

I gave you fair warning didn't I? *winks*

Let's look at the positives shall we? It clearly looks like a face. So 1 point for Team Yvonne's Left Hand. The placement of the features is pretty spot-on too. Mind you, no erasing was involved. Another point for Team Yvonne's Left Hand, agree? Hehehe.

And it took like five minutes. Because Team Yvonne's Left Hand isn't that adept at holding a coloured pencil and wanted to get it done quickly. Seriously though, Team Yvonne's Right Hand isn't that great at sketching either.

I must agree that the lines are pretty organic... the brain focuses on the reference photo and just commands the eye-to-left-hand to just draw what you see.

Here's a look at how Team Yvonne's Right Hand tried to "save" the sketch. ;) Still using that single coloured pencil.

A little more progress...

Here is the arsenal of supplies I used for this monochromatic portrait.

So, have you tried using your non-dominant hand for art?

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