Why yes, there is a story

She wanted Cinnabon. But it was too far.

Completed Familiar class from PAINT IN THE DARK

I used a Tom Bow marker in brown on her hair and didn't like it

So went over the hair with a heavy mix of brown gouache

I have a lot of chalk paint that I purchased at Walmart. Chalk paint doesn't have a long shelf life, so trying to use it up. Just don't care for it in a journal. Color wise it's great, I don't the feel of the pages after they dry. The first girl longing for Cinnabon has chalk paint. You're suppose to journal your internal feelings, right???

I used the original photo that Christy Sobolewski supplied for the cat in the double page spread. But I also had a close up of a friend's cat, so used that for reference as well. My intent was to give the impression of a cat, not depict a realistic painting. So. Stopping right there. The entire project was done with Daniel Smith water colors.

I traced the girl's face from a Pinterest download. Just the placement of her eyes, nose and mouth, then sketched her hair and body. Background is Caran D'Ache gouache, then stencil with Martha Stewart acrylic paint. I used Daniel Smith water colors on her face and body, and ended with gouache on her hair to cover up the Tom Bow marker that would not move. Lesson learned. The majority of the shading on her face and neck was done first with Neutral Tint. I then mixed up a flesh tone with Quin Coral and Green Gold, a Christy formula from one of her YouTube videos. I want to stress I am not giving away any secrets from a class. I know that combination of colors sounds horrible, but you can lighten it with water, and look how soft it becomes. I love it. To further darken around the eyes, I added just a touch of Neutral Tint to the flesh tone mix.

Learning something new makes me happy. Have a good one.
Linda