Week Eight
November 21st through the 27th
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor.
This is a little ironic because it turns out that this week’s challenge was rather unlucky. Week 8 is the first time in the six months of doing weekly art challenges I did not finish the piece on time.
However, it brought me a lovely little bit of wisdom that I will share with you.
As someone who is intrinsically motivated with many things, including these challenges, not meeting a deadline has very few actual repercussions. Yet, these are often the things that cause the most distress for me when they are not accomplished.
Being intrinsically motivated is important, but how do you prevent the self pity, harsh internal punishment, and severe personal disappointment that often follows not meeting an intrinsically motivated goal?
Give yourself permission to be a little late.
Still push yourself to get it done, but don’t push past your mental, physical, or emotional boundaries. Allow yourself to accept that not finishing on time or how you wanted is okay. If you don’t give yourself this courtesy, then being intrinsically motivated can become obsessive and harmful.
So, this week, it is okay that I didn’t finish the piece on time.
In fact, it is likely even better that I didn’t because I gave myself permission to be late and really took my time to finish every last detail.
Okay, okay. Back to the task at hand.
As you can see, I changed up some things from the original sketch when I transferred to watercolor paper. I put the amulet on a different chain and moved the large chain necklace up. I also switched up her pose when I finally decided what she was going to be wearing.
I always start with the face first, as it is usually the lightest part of whatever painting I'm working on. You do this because if you have the dark hair done and put water down to begin the much lighter skin, the hair color could bleed into the areas that are meant to be light. Side note - they always look so funny without eyebrows. Lol.
Painting metal is extremely difficult. I thought I wouldn’t be able to pull it off, but I was pleasantly surprised by how the jewelry turned out. The amulet is even my favorite part of this piece.
Here is a before and after of the amulet. On the left you have just the work done with paint and on the right, you have the addition of highlights, shadows, and texture done with pens.
I tried a new technique for the hair this week that involved adding texture and strands of hair using my micron pens instead of a fine tip brush and paint. It went alright but I think I still prefer painting the hair. Perhaps I will try combining the two techniques more thoroughly.
Aside from finishing late, this week's challenge went really well. I am so pleased with the improvement I have seen in my talent.
Until next week, my lovelies!
