Cultivating Perfection

I'm gonna warn you now, this post is a doozy! This lengthy and picture heavy post is dedicated to showing the progression of a piece I shared during Dina Wakley's Blog Hop for her new Media line with Ranger. If you missed that post you can find the link in the side bar.   --->

This is just a peek into my process which is in no way a cookie cutter process. Each time I work on a piece I am open to possibilities and that leads to all sorts of frustrations adventures. But dagnabbit, it's worth it every. stinkin'. time. 

Let's begin, shall we:

What started it all was this sketch. Do you sketch everyday? Well, you should. To me, when I sketch, I am getting the ugly out and stretching the creative muscle. I don't expect much in the way of "looking good" but once in a while I doodle something cool. Yep, sketches are cool. 

I then scanned the cool sketch into Photoshop, resized it and printed it to fit one of my prepared substrates. In this case it was a repurposed cigar box. (My process of preparing cigar boxes can be found here.)

Using regular ole transfer paper I found in the art supply section of Hobby Lobby I now have a cool sketch on my substrate.

The acrylics are set out and the layers begin. I block out the general color scheme in basic colors.

More layers and more texture added with pouncing the acrylic through a stencil.

Working on the background to add more depth and soften the stencil pattern. More and more layers of paint. They tend to be thinner layers, no water and applied with a dry brush.

I applied my Golden Acrylic Ground for Pastels on the figure's head area because I wanted to see if using my Pan Pastels would be a successful solution.

I sprayed a fixative on top of the pastels and then added more details with acrylic.

It ended up NOT being the look I was working for so I sprayed her head with isopropyl alcohol and carefully wiped off the unwanted area. Makeover! I also used more on various areas of the substrate to give it a weathered texture.

Using a drawing pencil to scribble some journaling in the background and to draw around the flowers. It's all about layers of texture! BTW, don't you just love the texture where her face used to be? That is from the plaster. Delish!

She told me she wanted her eyes open so I said okay and made it so. I went back in with my detail brushes and the acrylics to help her face develop. My heart leap and I knew that this was the right direction. I brought out more of the "plaster texture" with a light sanding.

I pulled out my green and brown large PITT brush pens to add depth to the flowers and her hair. I also used my Staedtler pigment liners to add definition to most everything.

Final touches with my fine tip white Molotow acrylic paint pen to bring out the highlights.

Finished the edges of the cigar box with gesso and a light wash of greenish brown.

Tada! Finished! Photo op on the burned tree stump in my backyard. It's a gorgeous overload of texture! Don't look away!

There you have it! If you have any questions about my process please feel free to ask in the comments and I will follow up with a blog post with all the answers. Fun!!