The second painting that I created in the studio this week is the result of an online workshop created by artist, Brandi Dayton. I've followed Brandi for awhile, and I absolutely love her style of painting. It's just so warm and colorful and happy. So I was thrilled to see her offer this workshop, even though her generosity to make this workshop free was born out of a personal tragedy, which was the loss of her son. You can read about this workshop, and this first lesson here:
The first lesson involves whimsical birds and flowers, which is what I've created. I can't even tell you how much fun I had creating this painting. And Brandi's videos were very well done and easy to follow. I loved seeing her process, and it was great to use colored pencils in a mixed media painting, which I'd never really done before. So this is the result of the first lesson in Brandi's workshop.
This mixed media painting is a combination of acrylics (the background), colored pencils (the flower stems and leaves, and the birds), Neocolor II Crayons (the flower petals), and paint markers (white outlines and white dots). I loved the whole process of this painting and I definitely want to use the techniques I learned from Brandi in other paintings. That is what I love about watching other artists work: it inspires me to try new things and approach things in brand new ways. And that always helps me to grow as an artist, which is always one of my primary goals.