#loveliestblue

[mysticsparklewings]

Powder Glass‪

Hu boy it's been busy around here lately, trying to get everything done by this or that deadline :P Even so, some of you may remember the Status Update I posted at the end of January showing off my prize pack from the Sketchiest Sketchbook contest I entered last year. It took a little bit, but I finally got around to playing with the Powder Pack and bio-degradable glitter, and this was pretty fun.   The main focus was, of course, the powders: Pinkest Pink, Loveliest Blue, Greenest Green, and Yellowest Yellow. Which are more or less CultureHustle's claim to fame. Per the (very simple) instructions on the packaging, you can mix the powers with your choice of water, an acrylic base, or linseed oil depending on if you want to use them as watercolors, acrylic paints, or oil paints. (I'm also assuming for watercolors that if you wanted to you could also mix them with some gum arabic, glycerin or honey, and add a white base/pigment if you wanted to try making gouache.) I've actually been wanting to make my own paint in some capacity for a while, but the steps involved in making proper watercolor paints (requiring mixing up bases and milling on a glass surface, among other things) is a little too intimidating and expensive to start for me, so being able to just mix some powder with water sounded like a much more convenient way to get a similar experience. And it was actually as simple as it sounds. I just scooped out a little of each powder onto a palette, added a few drops of water, then mixed the two using a brush. Once I had the four pure colors mixed up, I got a little wild and decided to use a little of the pink and yellow powder to mix up an orange, and a little of the pink and blue to mix up a purple. Then, of course, I swatched each of them out to see what they actually look like on paper. For the most part, they live up to their titles. The main thing of note is that a large part of their titles come from them being bright, neon/fluorescent colors. Likewise, they will never scan or photograph as quite the same colors that you see in person. Technology just hasn't managed to make screens that can display those colors properly yet. But let me assure you that, in-person, the yellow, orange, and pink are so intense they almost hurt to look at.   The green isn't as intense, but there's a chance I got a little more water in it than the others and that's part of why. The blue is nice, but it doesn't have the same wow-factor as the others. And, if I'm being totally honest, it's not really what I picture when I think of the "loveliest blue." I think of more of a deep, saturated sapphire color. This is more of a cyan or electric blue. I do have to say I absolutely love the purple the blue and the pink make together, though. It's a pretty unique shade that you don't really see in watercolors (and to a certain extent, art supplies as a whole) very often. And honestly, I'm kinda surprised that CultureHustle doesn't sell a pre-mixed purple powder for it. Unless I just missed a special edition one at some point. (I know they did a special edition orange one for Halloween, hence why I'm not saying the same thing about the orange.) They also make really, really pretty pastels when you water them down. They have almost a glowing quality to them, especially the yellow. And I did specifically use some neon/fluorescent watercolors I have on hand in my Master's Touch set, just to compare and make sure they were indeed unique and you can't get identical results from just any neon paints. To be fair, the results were similar, but these powder paints do have just a little bit more brightness and intensity to them. They're just more vibrant, somehow. That said, I don't think it's enough of a difference to be massively disappointed if you can't get your hands on the powders. At least as far as watercolors go. I don't have specific plans for more testing just yet, but I would like to play with these some more and see what else they can be used for or might be capable of. But as for this artwork, once I was done with my swatching and a couple blending tests, I went to work on a sketch so I could just play with the colorings and blending. This ended up being, as you can see, an hourglass. It's fairly simple and I thought it would be fairly nice to just kind of let the paints flow to color the sand inside. And it also kind works out since the paints are originally in the form of a powder, similar to sand. (Hence where the lame title came from ) Once that was done, I inked the sketch with my navy Gelly Roll, since they're waterproof and I was hoping for a blue-purple look, similar to a blacklight. I knew I had a Mermaid Marker that was the exact color I wanted, but I couldn't use it for the lines because 1. The ink is basically watercolor and would definitely not stay in place if I got close to my lines and 2. They bristle brush tips. I have a hard time doing clean/consistent lines with a fiber brush nib as it is, forget an actual brush. So I did the initial lines with the gel pen and then after I had the sand painted and dried, I filled in the hourglass rims to my liking, using a paintbrush and water to blend it out to look shaded, and then went back in with a fountain pen I put some of the mermaid marker ink into to thicker the lines in certain places. Then topped it off with some white gel pen for shine. For the powder paints, I did do a couple of test runs on a couple of copies of the lines I made while trying to make sure my inking muscles were warmed up before diving right into the final version. (A habit I'm trying to get myself more in to instead of just diving right in and then getting frustrated when I can't seem to ink anything to save my life.) So when I moved on to the final I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted certain colors to be and I could focus more on just getting them down and letting them flow and blend nicely. I also added in a couple of butterflies for ambiance and treated them the same way I did the hourglass Then I went in with the glitter, which I had somehow forgotten about until I was finishing up the hourglass. Since it is little tiny silver star shapes, I didn't want to treat it like normal glitter or my memories of how we did glitter in elementary school: Put glue down, dump glitter on glue, shake off excess. I carefully would pull out a few pieces of glitter at a time, let them fall somewhere inside the hourglass shape, and then once I had what seemed like enough glitter placed how I wanted it, I very carefully picked up each piece and dabbed the teeniest, tiniest bit of glue on the back of each and then placed them back down roughly where I had picked them up from. It was not a fast process, but it worked. Then, just to top it all off because I couldn't resist, I added a touch of blue pastel around the hourglass. Oh, and it really doesn't show up on the scan at all, but there is some white shine on the hourglass that was done with a white gel pen. It shows up more in-person since the watercolor paper is off-white. It's not the most elaborate or detailed artwork I've ever done, but I genuinely had fun with it and I do think it made for a fun experiment for the paints. And that's all I really wanted anyway. On to the next project! :D ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[everydaybeyoubeme-blog]

I spent last night prepping new boards with clear wax in preparation for today’s blue skies. 😎 🔥🎨☀️💙☀️🎨🔥 . . . . . . . . . #bluesky💙 #loveliestblue #artvideos #artvid #artprocess #artprocessvideo #stlartist #stlouisartist #stlart #stlouisart #stlwaxworks #leahmerriman #meltshot #paintwithfire #wipart #encausticart #encausticprocess #encausticpainting #waxart #waxartist #waxpainting #sayyestoartstl #sayyestoart #timelapsevideo #timelapseart #hotart #artflowsessions #texturelove #depthobssessed #mondaygrind (at St. Louis Wax Works) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3CvGTwHdWV/?igshid=82273mugu0m2

[floydvawter]

At last the pigments have arrived!! These are so lovely and I can't wait to get started! The blackest black, loveliest blue, yellowest yellow, pinkest pink and greenest green <3 <3 Now my work will get even more colourful <3 #pigments #stuartsemple #blackestblack #black2.0 #pinkestpink #loveliestblue #yellowestyellow #greenestgreen #screwyouanishkapoor #paint #artsy #art