I love to listen to Ted talks or YouTube videos when I paint. Last night, I came across one about the book Quiet, by Susan Cain. About the power of introverts. Being an introvert myself, it was very powerful to me, to recognize that bring an introvert is not a weakness, and to learn to harness my strengths and give myself time to recharge…away from all the stimulus and people. She mentioned a quote by Ghandi in her talk which was very inspiring to me..”In a gentle way, you can shake the world”. Yes you can…

Now about the painting. Many Facebook art friends have asked me to show my painting process with video. Alas, I have not learned how to do that.. But here are my steps with pictures..

I painted this in an altered book. I glued the pages together to make it sturdier and thicker. But I did a terrible job and created lots of bubbles on the page. Not an ideal painting surface. Nonetheless, it’s an art journal, it’s not meant to be perfect, so I continued.

I started just messing around with paint to create a background. Then I drew a face in.. Wanted to practice a 3/4 face.

Time to paint the under painting for the face, establishing the lights and the darks. This was when I wondered if I should abandon project give how many bubbles were on the page😰 but I perserved.. It’s my art journal, I can do what I want..

More layering and blending in the face. Then comes the hair… Hair in the wind 💃💃💃

I debated if I should leave the hair like that or paint it in…. I kept playing with it until the decision is made for me.. It was painted… With gold and brown.. And I added the quote to finish it off.

Here are some close ups to show the stencils and marks I made on the page too.