Dia del los Mabel ....Luchador extraordinaire!

For those of you who don't know Mabel, you can see her resurrection HERE

And for those of you who think I've totally lost the plot...this weeks theme at The Butterfly Effect is Lucha Libre Masks (or wrestlers as I know them).

Having had no time at all to art this week(or much last week) I went nuts today...how was I going to manage a mask in 10mins???? 

Grabbed Mabel..she is always game for a bit of dressing up...

butchered my last "not black" top...

and saw possibilities :D

Glue and white ribbon formed the mouth ...

and paper cut outs for the eye circles and border for her nose..

and VOILÀ!!!

With flowers clenched in her teeth, Mabel makes a scary but sexy Luchador :D

Normal blogging will resume soon....cos Shorty has left home now, Hubby is back in full-time work and Chunky is back at school next week(well that's the plan so far :S)

Besides...tomorrow is the start of Ayala Arts 29 Faces for September (pray to whichever Gods you will, cos I must be in need of serious guidance to do this again)

Hello. My name is Gina and I am an Art Addict!

Enjoy :D XXX

P.S. Haven't stopped the story of Lady Ophelia, just need more time to concentrate. Will catch you up soon :D

Rush of passion...

Lot's of pics so I'll keep the reading short.

The Butterfly Effect, Faeries and Sex theme, courtesy of Magaly :D 

Started with pencil sketch on watercolour paper...

1st water colour wash...

2nd water colour wash...

adding depth with water colour pencils...

watercolour pencils also add colour intensity...

used water colour pencil to add substance to wings...

used black water colour pencil to increase depth...

then work on shading with soft graphite pencils...

including adding yellow for light effect...

a thin layer of aqua stickles glitter on wings...

see , shimmery wings :D...

                                                

                                                     The image was getting a bit lost in the background, so I added a fine black outline to the illustration

well me and the bull rushes think she is well sexy :D

Enjoy :D XXX

So far so Frida!

The Butterfly Effect's Theme this week is FRIDA Kahlo. 

I didn't know much about this lady, other than lots of people like t reproduce her distinctive images of herself.

I chose to work from an early photograph, yet still managed to get the somewhat "stern" appearance. 

I worked with water-soluble oils and dry brushes on 230gsm water-colour paper...

keeping my palette simple, and using burnt/earthy tones.

This is stil a work in progress, as I want to get quite a "rich" effect in the overall picture by using deeper more vibrant colours, as well as metallic effects and patterns.

Not blogging much as the sun came out long enough to attack the garden, and I have a busy week(especially Wednesday :D)

Enjoy :D XXX 

"...the sheep's in the meadow..."

This week at The Butterfly Effect, it was suggested that we try working with our Non-dominant hand...for me that would be my left hand. I am TOTALLY right handed(except when typing)

I had a feeling this wasn't going to go well, so I decided to work on a piece of cardboard box. I practised controlling the brush by first adding a layer of white gesso.

While that was drying, I chose 3 colours to work with...

I'd acquired an interesting texture with the gesso, and that lead me to think of tall grass. I blobbed the paint... 

and smooshed. As I suspected, the paint was laying very thick, and I started to think "naive art" stylie might be effective :D

I also noticed that I actually hold the brush in my left hand, exactly the same way as I do right-handed, which gave me a little more confidence :)

Following the gesso texture I made tall grass...

adding a little white to the sky area.

then I noticed a picture in the newspaper I was resting on...and my "naive" dream was fulfilled :D

Blocking out in white, and only using the colours from the background...

a warm summer evening, as the sun starts to set...

and the sheep gets a golden fleece :D

"Little boy blue,

come blow your horn.

The sheep's in the meadow,

the cow's in the corn..."

I quite like the results so far, but now I want to add stuff with my dominant hand :D

Enjoy :D XXX

We Luvzzzz Beezzzz...

This weeks theme at The Butterfly Effect was chosen by Guest artist Karen, aka Iamrushmore.

She likes INSECTS

I had this canvas I'd made following a class by Tee Thompson

I like it...but it was lacking something :S

So I doodled a bit with a charcoal pencil...

blocked in with white gesso...

mixed a blue/black with acrylic to give definition...

coloured with blues and white...

building up a few layers...

And used a bit of black to add more definition, and white highlights on the eye lenses and tongues.:D

Still consider this a work in progress, wants "more" background.

Enjoy :D XXX