Art Journal: Be Kind

Statistics tell us that people all around us are struggling with immense burdens. Some of these are of their own making, but some are entirely out of their control. I was contemplating this today, and then my thoughts made it into my art journal. I show you how I went about expressing my thoughts in both words and pictures in today's blog.

I start today's project by drawing with a white chalk pencil on black paper.

I start by drawing the face, neck and nose of the face.

I make the nose thinner and add lips.

I then draw the eyes.

I draw flowers on the head.

Lastly, I add hair to cover the head.

I colour the hair in shades of blue and green.

I colour the face and facial features.

Then I colour the flowers.

I then use and Olive Green pastel pencil to add my first shadow to all the lines.

I use a charcoal pencil to add the deeper shadows. I also draw in eye lashes.

Then I use white to add highlights.

It is now time to prevent the picture from smudging. I do this by spraying it with fixative.

I then use a poly chromos pencil to write the wording for my journal. It reads as follows: "Statistically, someone you know is either cheating on their partner, or is being cheated on. Statistically, someone you know is dealing with a life-threatening illness. Statistically, someone you know is suffering abuse; either at the hands of someone who is supposed to love them, or substance abuse, because other coping mechanisms have failed. Statistically, someone you know is suffering financial difficulties, are having problems with close relatives, or is dealing with trauma caused by violence, or death, or both. Statistically, someone you know is feeling down, or depressed, or considering suicide. Smile. Be kind. Be gentle."

The completed layout.

You can watch a short compilation video of the steps shared above, on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/mOdABGjuYW0

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
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