Studious Girls, Easter and Totoro!

I’ve been busy making these awesome forest spirits for my boys for Easter. They love them and I have to say, I do too! Amanda has created the perfect Totoro tutorial! In case you are not familiar, Totoro is a movie by Studio Ghibli. Awesome movie. I figured these guys were perfect for this time of year when we celebrate spring and new birth. I love seeing the grass peek out from beneath the snow as it melts and cannot wait to see the forsythia blooms, tulips and crocuses!

If you want to read about the origins of Easter I have found these two links. For me, they just make this time of year ever more meaningful.

http://www.thesacredscience.com/blog1/the-pagan-roots-of-easter

http://worldtruth.tv/pagan-origin-of-easter/

I am excited to be a part of a great online class by Danielle Donaldson. When I happened upon the workshop, Storybooks and Studious Girls, I was so excited. I absolutely LOVE her style and noticed that we do have some wee similarities in our girls (like some of the necks, long arms and noses) but her style is amazing and her use of watercolour is incredible!!!! I am learning so much from her workshop!

I really need new watercolours –better watercolours, and Danielle offers some product suggestions as well which I have since ordered (eek!) – but while I wait for their arrival something is better than nothing!

One of the first things that I have done is draw and paint along with one of Danielle’s videos. It’s amazing how much easier it is to work on something step by step like this. It’s like having your hand held as you learn to walk. This is my try below. It’s not as good as her’s (of course!!!) but I enjoyed the process and was pleased with the results for a first try. I wanted to show her work to compare and tried using a video still but it just didn’t do it justice. Trust me when I say her’s was awwwwesome.

Making my own girl and painting her was another story! I have to admit that it was a challenge after drawing with her style to go back to my own. I haven’t been drawing lately and it was so hard to find a way to make the marks on the paper that were my own. For me, when this happens it is like there is an invisible force between my pencil and the paper and I cannot get past it. I guess it’s kind of like writer’s block for artists. I get it all of the time when there is a lull in my drawing time. Copying Danielle’s drawing helped me to get used to the marks again but then I couldn’t even remember what my girl’s had looked like and that was really weird. I assume if I had been drawing everyday or so this wouldn’t have been such a challenge.

I made my own painting next and it was simply awful. Really. Just. Yucky.

A few days later, after much sketching I drew a girl in what I see as a cross between my style and Danielle’s, probably because I have been drawing some of her girls too! Then I tried to use her watercolour techniques again the same way I had the first time.

It turned out better than my previous try but I have a long way to go to master the amazing watercolour talent she has! I took a picture of the first painting and the one I did on my own (below). I find I still like the first one best where I worked along with her video but I do find my second try on my own girl better than the first one (I cannot even show it! haha!). I have to say that one of my favourite things to paint was the shadow which I did using one of Danielle’s videos. Love the shadow. My girl doesn’t have the same presence as her’s. I have a long way to go and much practice but I am so enjoying the process.

You HAVE TO check out Danielle’s work! Seriously, do it!

Jeanne Oliver has some wonderful free videos and many great workshops including this one on her site so if you are interested in getting your ‘art’ on, check ’em out.  There are classes offered from a plethora (love that word!) of amazing artists like Jeanne and Danielle.

Off I go to practice my watercolours and girls!

Happy creating!!

 

Moongirl xx