12 July 2013

31 Day Challenge: Day One, Red: Freehand Poppies

Hi everyone! Today I'll be starting the 31 Day Challenge along with Lindsey of Wondrously Polished. I'm very excited because I've heard that the 31 Day Challenge is a good way to improve your nail art skills, also I love Lindsey's nail art, so she's the perfect partner in crime! We won't be doing it everyday, instead we're on a two day a week schedule, which will be Tuesdays and Fridays for now. Make sure you check out Lindsey's blog for her design.

Freehand poppies nail art

About this design: Day one is red, and I originally planned some gradient/tape/stud skittle mani, but at the last minute changed my mind to do some flowers instead. Here I've done some red poppies, made to look like they are in some field. The original inspiration was the watercolours of Emile Nolde, or some vague memory I had of his watercolour paintings of flowers. But I was also thinking of a nail art design I did over the holidays, coniferous trees in the winter done in a painterly style. So I really liked the idea of doing something impressionistic and painterly.

Freehand poppies nail art

Freehand poppies nail art

To get this look: I started with a base of Sally Hansen White On, and I sponged on some medium blue along the top, light blue in the middle, and light green along the bottom. I just dabbed on the colours with bits of sponge until I had a gradient that I was satisfied with.

Then, I did a light sketch of my flowers in orange, which I thinned down. After that, I painted in the poppies with my red, and when that was dried, I added some highlights with an orange-red and shadows with a purple-red. The stems were painted with a darker green, then a touch of dark blue where I needed the darks to be emphasized.

After it dried I finished with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top, then when that had dried, Essie Matte About You.

Freehand poppies nail art

Freehand poppies nail art

Polishes used:
Cover Girl Go-Go Mango: orange used for highlights on flowers
Essie Snap Happy: red for poppies
Essie The More the Merrier: lime green used for grass
Nubar Into the Wild: darker green used for grass, stems
Nubar My New Obsession: darker blue used for sky
Polished By Alexandra Beach Glass: light blue used for sky
Misa BreakAway: purple used for darkening the red and green
Essie Midnight Cami: deep blue, used only a touch to add dark edges on some stems

My "palette" and tiny workstation

Tips for freehand painting: I like to thin my polishes with thinner to make them easy to work with. It's good to let things dry first before painting over them or adding highlights/shadows. Sometimes I like to use a drybrush technique. This is when you have hardly any polish on your brush and it makes a line that is broken. You can see this in the grass area.

Overall, I really love this design, but I'm hoping that I'm not cheating because my nails aren't completely red.

What do you think of this? Would a tutorial on freehand painting be useful or of interest?
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42 comments:

  1. this is breathtaking! some of the best nail art that is really art i've ever seen!

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    1. Wow! What I great comment, thanks so much Gnarly Gnails! :)

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  2. This is absolutely gorgeous! Really looking forward to seeing the rest of the challenges you'll be doing!

    And haha, your workstation is so neat! I always end up with splotches of polish everywhere

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    1. Thanks so much! As for my workstation, it's also my work table (for school/teaching work), and my dining room table, so it really *must* stay clean. Lol!

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  3. That's freehand? You're definitely an artist!

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    1. Awww... thank you, that's so nice of you! <3

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  4. Wow, this is so good! At first I actually thought it was a sticker :O You're certainly setting the bar high for the challenge!

    A tutorial would be more than welcome.

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    1. Thanks Zara! Yes, I hope I didn't set the bar too high, hopefully my other designs turn out well.

      And thanks for the feedback. I think this would be a good tutorial. Just have to figure out if it will be pictures or a video. :/

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  5. these look spectacular - you're really talented ! ;)

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    1. The Polished Rainbow - thank you, gosh, that's so sweet of you. :)

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  6. This is amazingly gorgeous! Great job!

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  7. I have a problem with something said in this post.. I quote "I've heard that the 31 Day Challenge is a good way to improve your nail art skills"..

    THIS IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR NAIL ART SKILLS NEED IMPROVING!

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    1. Lol! Thanks Alice, that's so darned sweet of you! I guess I do think there's always room for improvement. And it will be a challenge to think of strong ideas for all 31 challenges. :)

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  8. My gosh, this looks like a beautiful painting. You did such an amazing job!

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    1. Wow! Thank you Erin, I was trying to make it look like a painting, so I'm glad it came across. :D

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  9. They really are beautiful. I would love to see tutorials on freehanding. If I had 5% of the freehand skills you have I would be a happy woman!

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    1. Awwww.. thank you Sarah, I will work on that tutorial. I wasn't able to do something like this overnight, just keep putting time into freehand nail art, if you want to get better, and I believe you will!

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  10. I love this! Of course it counts as red, haha - the point is to push yourself and you certainly did! Or, it looks like you did :P

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    1. Thanks Kelli! I don't know why I worry about stuff like that "does it count as red nails, or not?" ... but thanks for the reassurance, lol! ;)

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  11. I mentioned this on Instagram, but you really did nail the painterly, impressionistic style. I always find that my painting ends up very 'colouring book', but you nailed the colour theory and everything! Have you ever taken formal art training? (I'm going to find out that you do art for a living or something, and then I'll have to eat my foot.) xo

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    1. Thanks so much for the feedback Jolene. Yes, actually I do have my BFA in fine art, and I specialized in painting. However, I haven't done much painting since I graduated (I finished in 2005). Some things do translate to nail art - colour relationships and working with lights and darks. But nail polish is a lot different than oil paint, and has it's own challenges.

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  12. I love these so much, Meghan!! You are seriously phenomenal! I can't wait to complete this challenge together!!

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