myriamtillson

"Blindness" WIP + Life drawing sketches

Added 2019-02-26 10:26:28 +0000 UTC

Hi everyone!

First of all, we had a few new patrons join us lately, and I don't think I welcomed everyone properly, so hello and a very warm welcome to Lundi2friday, Guna, and Abbie!

I feel like I've been a bit absent in February, and haven't shared much work with you all, and I apologise about that! I have been so intensely focused on finishing this damn commission, that other things have needed to take a bit more of a background role. I think we are nearly there with it though, so I'll be able to share it with you when it is done, and, to be honest, it will be a massive weight off my shoulders once it is, because it has been an incredible source of stress.

Anyway. I'm currently working on a small personal painting, which you can see in the work in progress scan above.
This was supposed to be finished in time for the Month of Love "Blindness" theme week, but I had a bit of a break down at the week end, and I had to seriously realise that I am burnt out, not just...say it and consider it acknowledged.
So instead of working at the week-end, like I usually do, I forced myself not to. I cleaned, baked cookies, played video games (I'm obsessed with Horizon Zero Dawn), and generally turned my brain off. It is such a difficult thing for me to do, because I never feel like I am working hard enough, so any down time I allow myself feels like a mistake, but I realised that week end that I really, really, needed to cut myself some slack and just breathe for a bit.

That actually allowed me to feel somewhat refreshed on Monday, and I started this little painting. I still feel unhappy with my style and technical skill level at the moment, but I am going to be exploring avenues to work on that.
One of the avenues I am looking to explore, is a change in medium, and this painting was the start of that. Instead of painting it with watercolours, as I usually would, I decided to try out some acrylic inks I've had for a while. I'm used to using acrylic inks to airbrush, but have never used them to paint.

I was becoming frustrated with the fact that watercolours require a lot of layers to get dark, and wanted to compare that to acrylics. And so far, I am loving it.
Watercolours will always be my first love, with gouache being a close second, so don't worry, no chance of those disappearing, but I might explore mixing those three mediums together (acrylic, watercolour and gouache).

This painting, if it turns out in a way I like, will become the print this month, and you will get a step by step with all my thoughts on the acrylic inks thrown in. :)

And then, the other thing I did yesterday, was go to another live life-drawing session, of which you can the results down below.
It was another series of long poses, and the drawings are, in order from left to right, 30min,
15, 15, 20 and 20.
I drew these with watercolour pencils. I was planning on adding water, but chickened out.
One day, I will add proper colour to those sessions...one day....;)