Mind a-wandering project in pictures

I started by gathering together my supplies:

• a stanley trimmer (which I later replaced with scissors)
• some card
• red and white acrylic paints and brushes
• three A4 sized canvases
• some takeaway container lids to mix the paint on
• some images of elks and deers to use as a reference
• my old paint-stained sheet which has seen me through experiments such as this.

Mixing the paint

Pink isn't a colour I usually gravitate towards. If I do ever use it, I tend to like a pale, dusky shade which I call 'ballet pink' in honour of all the ballet shoes, tights and leotards I wore when I was dancing. I tried to get the final colour to be halfway between the strong pinks shown in the above images and my idea of 'ballet pink'.

This is how the colour ended up:

While the paint was drying on the three canvases, I cut the stencils out of the rather flimsy paper card. I was determined to try and use only the materials I already had at home. In a very low-tech, improvisational manner, I held the stencil in place with sticky tape and then applied white acrylic paint with both a thick and thin brush.

Trying to tidy up the edges a bit with a fine brush.

I still have two pink canvases left to complete. Although the painted stencil above looks okay as an experiment, I have since bought a proper craft knife, clear acetate film to cut the stencil from and I'm going to buy some white spray paint tonight. I think the spray will work well as it will give a clearer, less textured shape.

Mood: ice cold water and Soko