1980s Girl

I desperately needed some art time but I was completely lacking in motivation and inspiration.  I did, however, have my November Art Snacks box sitting untouched on my art table so I decided to tackle this month’s challenge as a way to jump start some creative time.

I did cheat a bit on the challenge because I used a black ink pen that did not come with the box.  The bright pink of the marker, the citrus green of one of the pencils, and the neon yellow of the brush pen suggested a 1980s pop vibe so I sketched out a girl wearing 1980s fashions – based simply on my recollection rather than any references so probably not super accurate.

It’s certainly far from my best work but it felt therapeutic to create something in my art journal and, as I have written many times before, often the journey is more important than the destination.

Hot Pink and Sunshine

My June Art Snacks box presented me with a challenging colour palette.  Along with the neutral mechanical pencil and the fine tip black gel pen, I had two water based pens in bright yellow and a grey-mauve, and a juicy fine tip brush pen in hot pink.  I could see how I could just about turn the grey-mauve into a neutral and make it work with either the yellow or the pink but making all three work in some coherent way definitely presented me with a challenge.  I also found that grey-mauve watercolour pen tricky to work with.  Even though the yellow was the exact same brand, its pigment behaved much differently.  That grey-mauve, however, didn’t blend well and I was left with a hard line wherever I had drawn with it.  I found the saturation of its pigment very variable too.  I do like that colour, however, so I will persevere and continue to experiment with it.  There must be a way to get it to cooperate and behave in the same way the yellow did.  I very much like the hot pink brush pen, however.  It was super juicy and activated really well when I added water and a little goes a long way.  I probably should have had the pink dominate the illustration since it was easier to work with.  I had not intended to give the female figure a turban.  I had originally sketched in that shape to be hair but I decided I needed a bit more yellow in the illustration to make the colours balance out a bit more so a turban it became.  There is something about the combination of colours and the style of the figure that makes me think of the 1980s and the New Romantic pop bands of my youth.

1980s Disco Pig

Mother’s Day was the excuse I needed to step away from the laundry, leave the vacuum unplugged, ignore the fact the basement playroom looks like it has been ransacked by raccoons, and instead spend some time at my art table.  My monthly Art Snacks box had arrived the previous week so I thought I would have an experiment with the supplies within it and participate in the challenge to create some art using only those resources.  Given I had a highlighter yellow paint pen and a bold orange chubby Pitt pen, the colour scheme shouted 1980s at me.  I, therefore, knew I was going to end up creating an illustration with an ’80s vibe.  What emerged as I sketched was a pig sporting various 1980s fashions.  I  actually did not wear any of these types of clothes in the ’80s because a) I have never been fashionable b) I think I was still wearing 1970s hand-me-downs when neon and ra-ra skirts were in style and c) I was a non-conformist as a child.  I did have a pair of legwarmers that I wore when roller skating so I guess I dipped my toes into this style, though my legwarmers were grey.  But I digress.  My pig looks confident and ready to throw some shapes on the dance floor.