Friday, July 26, 2013

First Princess in Color

The other day, I took my first princess off the dining room wall and took her up to my creating room (Dreaming Room) to finish her in color.  After an hour of work, I had to stop to get ready to work, so I brought her back downstairs to see how she looked.  And I wasn't pleased.  In fact I was so torn, I wasn't sure what to do: should I finish all the princesses in color even though I wasn't sure it would look good?  Perhaps I should just take them all down and leave the moonlit forest with its will-o-wisps alone without its princesses at all.  Should I leave them up as they were in black and white?
(blurry shot...I was taking a picture of the whole room)

I was so frustrated by the whole thing it started a chain reaction of self-doubt in other areas of my creativity.  So finally today I put my foot down and said to myself "ok self...you've only worked on this princess for an hour, and like it or not she's in color now, there's no going back.  So go all the way with it."  I spent an additional three hours today working her up in color, and then I took her back downstairs and put her on the wall.

And I liked what I saw!





Now, I've worked out a formula of colored pencils in shades of grey and blue to blend with the colors of the princesses and their gowns to help make them look moonlit.  Hopefully the other princesses will now finish up even faster, but if they don't, that's ok too.  But I feel much better now about proceeding with my original plan (well, close to it...originally the princesses would have been painted on the walls, but my knowledge of colored pencils far surpasses my knowledge of acrylics, I learned the hard way). 

Now on to Princess Theodora!

5 comments:

  1. She is lovely! Glad you are ready to move forward, you will be elated when they are done! Colored pencils are a wonderful medium; I think you will be happier with them as you drew them, instead of translating them into paint.

    Well done. you!

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  2. She looks so beautiful. I'm sure that once they are all finished it's going to be stunning! :-)

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  3. Your princess looks AMAZING! Wow. I look forward seeing the result. I think you did great, Grace! No need for creative-ability-self-doubt!! You are talented and creative and now I'm inspired. I really want to draw again. Thanks love <3

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  4. Jennifer, Thank you!! I've been working with my Prismacolors more the last couple of years or so, and I'm discovering what a joy they can be to work with! I also think I am going to end up much more satisfied with the result of them in pencils than I would have been had I used acrylics. I just need to learn that medium better first before I try a project this massive in paint!

    Laurie, (HUG) Thank you!!!

    Rachel, thanks!! So far they're progressing faster than expected, so I look forward to a grand finale sooner than I thought.

    Camilla, I am honored...that means so very much to me. Thank you. Seriously..your words definitely brightened my day today.

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