gabyniko
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SNEAK PEEK - Portrait study based on the reference picked in the last poll 🗳
🕑 Added 2022-11-11 20:14:46 +0000 UTCYou know,
Sometimes everything goes wrong in the artistic process...
No matter how much enthusiasm and inspiration you have at the beginning, or how well you've prepared and planned the entire piece. Everything goes wrong: the other eye looks weird, the paper buckles, pencil breaks, you splash paint, spill coffee, drink paint-water, yell at your poor cat and the whole painting ends up in the trash.
I approached the portrait based on the photo selected in the last poll four times. Four! First, I drew it in a sketchbook to warm up and feel its proportions. It wasn't very good, but hey, no need to worry about a warm-up sketch, right?
I drew it again in the Viviva watercolor sketchbook because that's how I planned to paint it. I was happy with the result.
Then the problems started. I wanted to apply wet on wet technique and the paper started to buckle like crazy.
I pressed it with a heavy book and it returned to its previous state but then it started to peel off because I was using too much water.
I wanted to ignore it but the masking fluid took the layer of paper off when I removed it 🌝 The whole piece looked like some freaky photo from a horror movie.
I gave up on this paper and took out the "Gamma" watercolor pad. I sticked it to the table to avoid buckling...
I thought it's a great idea and it has to be better this time. Hehe. Not only did the paper buckle. I also splashed some dark blue paint on it and when tried to clean the stain, paper started to peel.
I had to give up. I ordered a new, high-quality, 100% cotton watercolor paper (Arches) because I really want to learn wet on wet technique. At the moment, I switched to Procreate, to protect myself against further frustration.
This is how the final portrait looks like.
Completely different than I planned, but in art, not everything goes our way and you have to accept it 🤷♀️ What I learned in the last few days is that sometimes you need to draw something four times before you even finish it 😁
I will prepare a Step By Step of the final painting in the next post 😊
Have a lovely weekend everyone! 🧡
Gaby
Comments
Yes, sometimes I feel this way and often I just leave it without finishing 😄 Not every artwork is meant to be finished.
Kat'Couleurs
Wow! Not only is the final artwork amazing, but also all you went trough and the fact that you still stuck with it and finished it in the end! It's amazing to be able to pursue an artwork to the end! I have a question on that subject: do you ever start an artwork, and halfway trough, you feel no more inspired to finish it, like you're weary of it? And if so, how do you overcome that feeling? Thank you :)
I like the spirit paper idea! 🥰
It can be the paper. Not every watercolour paper is made for that technique. Using a defuser can help aswell, so you don’t need to wait too long. Try out different papers. I got frustrated & almost decided to not use aquarell colors anymore when I first started. The paper I used, got fuzzy easily, the other one didn’t stay wet. I hated it but couldn’t stop, using watercolours. It took time to find my spirit paper, matching my way of “handling”. Maybe it is just me but… I call it spirit paper (like spirit animal) because I still believe, it must fit someone’s way of adding things to the paper. I personally prefer to have at least two different types of paper. But anyways, I’m still too impatient & this is actually my personal big problem when it comes to watercolours. It is a love/hate relationship. Glad, I’m not the only one who gets frustrated with watercolours.😄
