Handpainted Keds

Sonny has lately been on a growing spree, standing taller than his mommy already. So no wonder he outgrew his school keds (white canvas shoes) in a span of a few months. The shoes were in fairly decent shape despite his using and thankfully, at that point of time, our shoe sizes matched. So thrifty mommy carefully put away the keds, planning to refurbish them at a later date. And now the results are for all to see... TaDa!!!! (drumroll please)

Some freehand drawing with pens, some dabbing of acrylic paint, and some final outlining to highlight parts.... and we were done.

It is such a simple project that just about anyone can give it a try.

And keds are by far the most inexpensive variety of canvas shoes available in the market. So even if you goof up, you won't have much to lose.

I loved painting in the flowers and the birds, especially the cute lil' owl. Here are a few tips from my first-hand shoe painting experience:

• Use pens with permanent ink for the outlining. You don't want those lines getting all runny.
• Do not mix too much water with the acrylic paints else you'll land up with faint coloured water spill-over marks the way I did in places.
• Again, final highlights are done best with permanent markers or pens.

Hope these tips and pictures encourage you to try your hand at handpainting canvas shoes. I can't wait to wear mine!
 

Old Or New

While cleaning my supplies cupboard, I came across my old sketchbooks. And the drawings I had made some 6 years back! At that time, I was trying my hand at a number of different painting mediums, and watercolours were one of them.

I decided to redo these yellow bougainvilleas in acrylics and ink, and now they look so much more vibrant and lively.

I also love how the background has turned out. Back then, I used to feel stumped by backgrounds - didn't know how to handle them well. Now I am confident; so much so that even if I mess things up, I can salvage the situation with some paint trick or the other. Mixed media and acrylics are definitely more forgiving than watercolours. (You can read the original post here.)

Now when I look back, I realize a few things - the quality of those watercolour tubes was rather shoddy (even though it was Camel; artist quality watercolours must be in a different league), and as a newly-minted artist I was using very little paint (the brush should have been definitely loaded better).

One learns so much with time and practice. But I would love to have your opinions on this, dear readers.... which version do you like better - old or new?

Collaged Ladies

Inspired by something I came across on Twitter, I decided to try my hand at making these collaged beauties. A lady in repose, and another admiring herself in the mirror. A celebration of female vanities! And an occasional indulgence in abstract figurative work.

I must put in a word here for my fascination to use regular magazine or newspaper sheets for collaging over those fancy patterned papers available at craft stores. In my opinion, using patterned paper is like sharing your creative output with someone else; like two or more different people working on one piece. Whereas using regular paper that is easily available, or even creating your own patterned paper, opens up unending creative possibilities.

And yes, I especially love the peachy pink, flesh toned paper of the Economic Times! An artist can have idiosyncrasies, after all.... :) This artist has no qualms being called quirky!