[DC12016] "Plumed Serpent"

Mixed media
watercolor, crayons, sharpie, gold paint pen, fingernail polish, chocolate ice cream

Just for fun I documented the 'making of'....

Pencil Drawing

a reply to: ladyvalkyrie

Hey thats pretty cool, Was the chocolate ice cream for painting, or for snacking while painting?

Background wash with watercolor. Salt gives it an interesting dappled pattern.

A bit of detail work.

Another wash.

Some more details, including the gold paint pen details on the headdress.

* At one point my 2 yo son put his chocolate ice cream stick on the bottom right corner. Luckily the background was sepia anyway! Lol!

After this last pic was taken I just did the facial details with marker, headdress colors with crayons (the was repels watercolor, I was debating another wash but decided against it), and feather colors with iridescent fingernail polish. So as you view this painting the colors shift and the headdress reflects the light.

a reply to: ColaTesla

Lol! I explain it at the end. I can sum it up in 4 words: two year old boy

Nice composition. I'm a big fan of mixed media, nice to see! Nail polish, surprisingly am sure to some, is fun to wok with.

a reply to: dreamingawake

Nail polish is relatively expensive but it comes in awesome iridescent colors! Years ago you used to be able to buy iridescent spray paint at auto part stores, but the last couple of times I thought to check at an Auto Zone or O'Reilley's they didn't seem to carry it anymore. I'm sure you could order something like that online, but it wasn't for a specific project so I just kind of shrugged and gave up.

originally posted by: ladyvalkyrie
a reply to: dreamingawake

Nail polish is relatively expensive but it comes in awesome iridescent colors! Years ago you used to be able to buy iridescent spray paint at auto part stores, but the last couple of times I thought to check at an Auto Zone or O'Reilley's they didn't seem to carry it anymore. I'm sure you could order something like that online, but it wasn't for a specific project so I just kind of shrugged and gave up.

Iridescent spray paint sounds like an idea to work work-haven't tried yet. Yeah, would check online for it.

a reply to: ladyvalkyrie

Absolutely gorgeous. Totally my palette.

a reply to: dreamingawake

Definitely not its intended use, but I would use a screwdriver and hammer to puncture the side of the can so the paint could drip out as opposed to the even spray. That's probably dangerous, so if you try it and put your eye out don't come sue me!

That is very cool, I like that you went a different direction from just drawing a dragon. Probably my fave so far, and great use of different tools!
Is it inspired by aztec or mayan art?

originally posted by: ladyvalkyrie
a reply to: dreamingawake

Definitely not its intended use, but I would use a screwdriver and hammer to puncture the side of the can so the paint could drip out as opposed to the even spray. That's probably dangerous, so if you try it and put your eye out don't come sue me!

lol Thanks for the tip.

Wow!felt the need to comment...I think your stuff is amazing!

a reply to: athousandlives

Yeah, I was like "Dragons? Meh." Then I put some thought into it and ended up really having fun! If you haven't already, check out my other 2 entries. They are also 'outside the box'.

This one is 100% Mayan influence. In fact, I've got Mayan hieroglyphs and Quetzalcoatl tattooed on my body. Back in 2000 I was fortunate enough to visit Chichen Itza and got to climb to the top. Not only that, but we got to climb up inside to the inner chamber. When we did that they said they were going to be closing it off to the public soon. And now I think they don't let people climb to the top even on the outside (because people kept falling off and dying). So I'm really lucky to have that experience, it was truly amazing!

FYI, Quetzalcoatl is the 'plumed serpent' and is a representation of the convergence of heaven and earth. Serpent for earth and the feathers for heaven. (actually the Mayan name for him is Kukulkan, Q is Aztec but more widely recognized) I just pulled up the Wiki article about him and archaeologists have guessed him to be the god of Venus, wind, knowledge, fertility, war, Hernan Cortes, arts and crafts, Thomas the Apostle...whatever they could pull out of their butt apparently! Lol! Whatever he represented, I figured he's close enough to being a dragon for all intents and purposes.

a reply to: ladyvalkyrie

That's amazing! I didn't know you could go inside not so long ago, you were really lucky then.
Chichen Itza, or as I always read it 'chicken itsa', is a place I've been longing to go for a long time. Also thanks to some great ATS threads from the past.
I really like their hieroglyphic art, and was also thinking of a tat based on it.
I checked your other entries, and they are all really good, interesting approaches to the contest topic.
Hoping you win it!

a reply to: athousandlives

PM me with your tat idea and I would be happy to draw it up for you!