Are you ready to take the second floor this time? If you have no clue what I am talking about- read all about it here  The Second Floor Challenge

So today is our 11th Second Floor Challenge and last Second Floor Challenge: Six Colors : Primar and Secondary- Yellow, Blue, Red, Green, Orange and Violet

Click here to see what Julie did

Whatever that means to you or however it inspires you.  The prompt is simply meant to get you started.  The level of challenge you aim for is entirely internal and up to you

I had to laugh a bit about this challenge- if you visited one of my workshops you might have heard me saying, that for the beginning you should try not to use more than 3-4 colors when working with a paint medium because it get’s muddy and brown. And now here I am challenged to use six colors.

So first I decided to use only one paint medium- Derwent Artbars and then I struggled a bit if I should just do something like color blocking, or circles (again?) …and somehow it felt all too easy.

And so I decided to kind of draw a background…something that is not really my strength – but hey…it’s taking it the second floor, right?

I used all the colors in the leaves and background and as it looked really flat I started using the Sgraffito technique to get some texture and dimension revealed.

It turned out ok…I am not overly happy with it, but the main thing is, I had fun and I tried something new. I actually like all the colors together – the leaves…not so much- LOL.

What I learned from this challenge:

1. I loved the challenge to use colors together that I would usually not use together
2. I also learned once more that I really don’t like anything that looks too flat and has no texture- either visual or tactile texture – at all.
3. I loved concentrating on just one paint medium…it made me think a lot on how to get the most out of it- although I guess it would have been a bit more challenging using an art medium I didn’t use that much before.
4. In the feature I might stick rather to circles again- LOL

As mentioned before this is Julie’s and my last Second Floor Challenge. Only once we both decided to skip a challenge totally out of time problems and so it is 11 challenges we did. So let me put together

What I learned in total from the 2nd Floor Challenge

• If something looks as if it turns out to be a disaster, keep going- it usually ends up to be one of your favorite pieces.
•  I learned that it is really good to limit yourself to only a few supplies -it frees your mind.
• I learned a lot about supplies etc. because I was constantly forced to think in a different way when usual out of the box.
• Doing something together with my friend Julie who lives too far away has been just fun – the challenge at least made me feel as if we are doing something together which we usually cannot do because of the distance.
• I love getting the most out of one supply – I don’t like to use supplies in the only way it is determined to be used
• Paint Media and Texture are essential for me- they are a big part of my style- no need to fight against that ;)
• I developed a deep love for watercolor paper throughout all the challenges
• It doesn’t hurt to show stuff you don’t like that much and admit that things didn’t work THAT well, nobody is perfect and I don’t strive to be perfect.
• I loved to see that a lot of our readers took the second floor too – I learned as much from your experiences as from my own. Thank YOU!

If you’d like to leave a link showing off what you did in response to this challenge, here’s the linky list:

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hugs
Nat

Nat

My husband and I are traveling a lot, but mostly for work and mostly not together. There are times we don’t see each other for 4-6 weeks. But…it is all not that bad, because we both work in our home office when we are here and that is so awesome, so in between we always have 2 weeks that we are both not traveling. We can take all meals together and there is often a short peek into the offices during the day.  So usually…let me admit this…when he goes away…I start spreading out over the whole apartment, you find art supplies even in the bathroom (don’t ask- LOL) , I crank up the music ;) , I forget to get food and to eat, if I finally eat, I eat the stuff that he doesn’t like and I can never cook, I vanish in my studio forever, I watch the WORST TV Shows you can imagine and the first two days it is pretty fun…and then it sucks and I want him home- LOL.

This canvas is a retired Workshop called “Bold About US”. It was lot’s of fun teaching it.

Supplies: Prima Masks, Prima Londonderry Collection, Prima Ribbon Velvet, Prima Flower Carlotta Latte,

Prima Say it in Chrystals, Gesso, Tattered Angels Chalkboard, Tattered Angels Glam, Rangers Clear Crackle Paint

So today- well  when you read this it was yesterday ;) – hubs is coming home- so can’t wait :) But I better get the apartment cleaned up now- LOL. My art supplies are EVERYWHERE :)

If you life together with a partner or room-mate what are the things that you love to do when they are not there for a while? 

Have a wonderful weekend!

nat

Nat

A couple weeks ago I received a brush in the mail by Donna Downey asking me do to something fun for her studio with it. Donna is currently running a fun Altered Brush Project and she just opened it up to the public as she wants to fill the walls …and probably because artists are slow…Like me – LOL- it took me a while to tackle the task ;)

The beginning was easy as I knew I wanted to add texture to the brush

But then my first idea using those colors wasn’t the way I wanted it the next morning

So I over sprayed following my often said advice “if it is ruined, just paint over again ” and I decided for this

supplies: Liquitex Gesso, Liquitex Spray Paints, Liquitex Heavy Gel Medium, Liquitex Acrlylic Inks, Clay, Canvas Fabric, Cheese Cloth

It was fun and definetly a challenge to do something creative on an unusual surface :)

“What was the most unusual surface you have created something on?”

Have an amazing day

Nat

Nat