Dry Brushing Is Good For You

Or so I've been told.

Personally, I can't be bothered using a soft bristle brush to gently scrub my skin in order to get it glowingly soft and luminous. Luminous, shluminous.

What? I'm not here to write about my bathing and beauty practices? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot for a moment. Back to all things art.

Today's post features an abstract painting I've titled Enigma (purely because I'm not sure what the heck it is or what I was trying to achieve). I created this small canvas in art class last week after my fantastic art teacher Ms Kathy taught me how to use a dry brushing technique to apply paint.

Basically you take a really soft, dry brush and apply just a little paint to the bristles. You then gently stroke the canvas to apply a gentle "mist" of colour. I liked it. It felt noice. Diff'rent. Unusual. Pity that whilst I like the technique, the painting turned out to be rubbish. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Still, I won't let a little litter stop my from pursuing all things artistic. No siree!

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be sure to see you 'round soon,

Kate
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Introducing Liquid Graphite Girl

Oh goodness, I simply cannot begin to tell you how much I adore exploring the use of different artistic mediums.

I think it's because I enjoy the anticipation and adventure of finding out whether the new medium and I will 'connect' together artistically (ie. my beloved pastels) or become arch enemies (ie. my nemesis, watercolour).

With this in mind, it was with great pleasure that I had the opportunity to have a play with using a product called liquid graphite in art class last night. The product is literally what you think it is. Graphite. Liquid. Cool, huh?!

After thinking about it for a little while, I decided to attempt a portrait using strong line work. (I must confess this style of art scares me, because there is nowhere to hide. Eek!) After twenty or so minutes worth of work, I ended up with this little study (what you see on screen is pretty close to actual size):

Not bad. Perhaps looking a little like a Disney princess, but at least she's looking relatively human. I think she almost looks like a super-hero girl in disguise (hence the title of this post). I wonder what her super-powers would be? Able to correct misplet misspelt words with a single blink perhaps?

By now I'm sure you are wondering what I thought of liquid graphite (if not, I'm going to tell you anyway). Welllllll.....

I *loved* it!  I found the consistency to be a little thicker than watercolour paint (good) and that I was able to actually control the product with reasonable ease (even better). Honestly, it made it an absolute pleasure to use and I'm going to put this right up the top of my art supply wish list (take note, hubby!).

Liquid Graphite Girl and I will finish up by saying thanks ever so much for stopping by, I'll see you around soon!

Kate
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Poinciana - Part 1

One of the things I love about living in Brisbane is when the beautiful poinciana trees come into bloom over the hot and humid summer months. Honestly - the vibrancy, colour and superb climbing capacity of these trees make me feel so happy inside my heart that I made a pledge to myself to paint one over summer.

Well, despite my best intentions, 'life was life' over the summer just past. As a result, I finally got around to starting to paint my tree in autumn. (Hey, one can't rush these things. Better late than never, right?!)

I bought a large canvas and pulled out my paints (which were starting to feel neglected after my pastel pursuits of late) and set to work. After a lot of dabbing and mixing and stroking with some gorgeous, rich hues, here's where I got up to:

It's not too bad. I can see a few things I like about it, and a lot of areas still requiring significant work. <Sigh!> Regardless of this painting's success (or not), I'm really enjoying the process of creating a unique artwork and am looking forward to finding some time over the next few days to try and finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by, I'll see you 'round soon with an update.

Kate
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