Annabelle's journal Walk Like An Egyptian is a fantastic theme. Of course, all month long and ever since, I've had the Bangles' song stuck in my head... dum dum dah dah dah, dee dum dee dah dee da-da dum! omg - when will it end?
Thankfully painting is a wonderful calming thing to do and its even better when your artwork turns out so well that you're actually happy with it.
Here's how it eventuated... after googling Egyptian women and camels with pyramids. The idea behind it all is "a wander through the desert with friends".
I started off my painting with the portrait colours from Jane Davenport's set of acrylic paints and one of the Mermaid Texture Brushes. Don't let looks fool you... it may look like a gimmicky paint brush but the bristles are beautiful :)
Scrap paper behind the pages, attempting to keep the book clean... not sure it worked but there's a note from Annabelle saying it doesn't matter if we're messy. She's so kind!
Still wet so slightly shiny, it dries to a lovely matte finish. It was so smooth and creamy to use :) I painted on a thin layer of gesso but it doesn't seem to have helped the paint stick to the book tape any easier but at least it stops the paint from getting through to the other pages.
I'm new to gesso so any tips are welcome. In the past I only used a sealer or medium on wood, glass or clay before painting Folk Art flowers and other pretties. I didn't ever use it on paper or canvas! Maybe I should have? A painting I did when I was 17 was painted directly onto an unprimed canvas and 32 years later looks just the same - although my view of it is different! I'd love to paint over it but my parents like it! lol :) Moving on...
I painted the sky with a brush then spattered white paint over it all and played about with the tail of the mermaid brush. So nice to be painting :) Will have to make time to do some more.
These pyramids were built alot faster than the real thing! I used the sandy colours plus the dark brown, red and white. While blending the shadows into the sand I lost all the splattering I'd done earlier, so smooshed the whole lot. Sand never stays the same in a desert so its all good!
Testing palette paper... Thought I'd better give Jane's a go. So different to using my china plate or even the craft mat. Not one of my faves as it keeps sliding about the table but Mum loves the stuff. At least I've discovered why Jane's craft mat is made of that semi-sticky silicon, it ensures everything stays put. Ideal if painting on a sheet of paper without an easel and don't want to tape the edges.
The camel is drawn from a photo... as I told Dad, his hump isn't correct because his embroidered blankets have a square frame underneath so its not really his hump you're looking at!
I drew the camels straight onto the page with watercolour pencil but had a practice with the woman on scrap paper. I've always found people hardest to draw! Its much easier when you don't try to make them look exactly like a photo.
The photo of the woman I found was wearing these very dark sunglasses that I almost included but I'm glad I didn't. She looks more at peace than her real-life self, calmly guiding her camel.
This pic is showing all the embroidery completed including knots and tassels... some of the blankets camels in real life are given are gorgeous!
Dry brushing the shadows onto the second camel.
Up close view of the three friends.
Almost finished... I spent another age searching for something meaningful about walking in deserts with camels but gave up (still had the song in my head but didn't want to use that). Eventually sifted through my Tim Holtz stamps and found something not related to walking with Egyptians at all but at least its meaningful.
Last of all were the shadows for the camels and woman... added using watercolour pencil and waterbrush. Much better now they're not looking like walking about on air!
So that's it, my walk in a desert with friends :) Its been a wonderful page to create. I hope Annabelle likes it!
Thanks for reading :) Have a happy day!
xx
Jenny
