Letters by Lydia: Valentine’s Day <3

lydnas Leave a comment

Hey y’all! Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I thought it’d be fun to give some ideas for anyone looking to make valentines for their loved ones.  I know a lot of people don’t like Valentine’s day because it can be really tough when you’re single, but I’ve always loved it because I have so much fun making cute little valentine’s for all my friends!  It’s like a crafter’s dream holiday, getting to sit down with washi tape, fun paper, stickers, pens, and make cards for the people you love.

Anyway, here are some different styles for lettering I thought fit the Valentine’s aesthetic:

A fun ribbon font always looks good, and you can’t go wrong with doing conversation hearts! For the last one, I just thought it’d be cute to do something a little more structured but still fun and with lots of red and pink.  I’m always happy to do tutorials on different types of lettering like this too, if anyone is ever interested 🙂

As for general guidelines for making Valentine’s cards, I honestly feel like you can never overdo it.  I love to go all out with glitter, lace, bright colors, stickers, etc.  Even if you don’t want to go that route, basics like pastels, hearts, red and pink, and all that cute stuff never fails.  I also love doing puns (Love you a waffle lot, olive you, etc etc), cute little drawings, and inside jokes because that makes the cards more personal and heartfelt.  As for little drawings and extra things to add, you can always do candy, hearts, bows, flowers, roses, and literally anything you think the recipient would like 🙂 Here’s a few little doodles I came up with:

I hope this made you excited to make some cards for your loved ones if you’re so inclined! Either way, have a great week and enjoy your Valentine’s Day next week! <3

TOLAROIDS: Starry Night

akilian Leave a comment

We were in Peru in the mountains in a small city called Urubamba when the power went out revealing the most stars I’ve ever seen.

Bonus two photos: the comet NEOWISE that passed Earth in 2020 and that I managed to capture.

 

 

OTM #25: Windy

katelynski Leave a comment

I’ve had mixed feelings about the weather lately. It looks so sunny and beautiful from the comfort of my apartment, but the moment I round the corner of my building, I’m bombarded with high winds. I walk forward with cartoonish resistance, hoping I’m not going to fly backwards and break every bone in my body. It’s the type of wind that’s so cold, so strong it makes me sweat. It’s so lovably Michigan. I feel like my hair will look like Doc Brown or Albert Einstein when I get to class (of course, it never does). 

I really love how walkable Ann Arbor is, though. Nothing gets me to pay attention to the weather and nature around me like this city, having to prepare for each day out. I take a lot of walks even in this temperature just because it gets me in tune with myself, with the world. There’s nothing as grounding as taking a walk, even if the wind is relentless and the air makes your nose run. Maybe a nice nap under blankets would be nice, too. Enjoy the week and thanks for reading!

The Indian Artist, Revamped: The Start of Something New

Riya A Leave a comment

Good afternoon everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. I am pleased to announce that I have finally started a new painting after months of respite. I wanted to share some of the processes that can be used in order to prime a new canvas or repaint over existing work. I am a large proponent of reusing canvases and painting over old work/paint. Reusing canvases is a very cost efficient way to produce large works as brand new canvases can be upwards of $100-200.

Prepping Paper:

Paper is an affordable and great surface for painting. Canvas paper is available; however, paper can be prepared adequately to create something specially for oil painting.

Paper should be gessoed with multiple layers to create a barrier between the raw paper and the oils of the paint. Acrylic gesso is most commonly used. As a general rule, acrylic paint can be used only UNDER oil paint as a means of toning the surface or blocking in colors. Gessoed paper prevents absorption by creating a barrier, and can be achieved with a few coats of an acrylic gesso.

Preparing Canvas:

Cotton and linen are the two most common canvases used as surfaces for oil painting and come both primed and unprimed. The most common stereotypical white canvases all come pre-primed.  Primed canvas, still should be gessoed to create a sealed barrier between paint and undercoat, but in my experience, is not completely necessary.

The unprimed canvas on the other hand must be primed with various layers of gesso with light sanding in between layers. Make sure that the linen or canvas is stretched on a frame prior to priming in order to avoid any cracking and flaking.

Preparing Wood Panels:

Using wood is something that I have been meaning to try. This is a great hack to get cheap painting surfaced. You can easily go to your local hardware store and get a piece of simple and cheap plywood cut. The process is then the same in order to prime and prep the wood.  Gesso works as a protective barrier, avoiding deterioration of the wood and discoloration and cracks in your painting.

Sanding is a critical step in the wood preparation process. It smooths out and removes minor abrasions, and opens the pores of the wood to accept your gesso. Make sure to inspect your panel to see if wood putty would be needed to fill in abrasions and cracks beforehand. Then seal the uncoated wood panel against harmful oil absorption from the linseed oils utilized in specific underpinnings and oil paints. In the event that wood isn’t appropriately puttied or sealed before applying the oil paint, it will deteriorate progressively

 

All in all, regardless of what you choose to paint on (including various other materials such as metal and glass), you need to make sure to prepare the surface properly. If painting over an existing work, be careful to assess what type of paint was used. Oil can go over acrylic but acrylic cannot go over top of oil. Gesso and a sanding block are your best friends when it comes to creating a beautiful surface to work on. If you know that you have a sole acrylic painting, using a neutral color to black out the surface can be a quick and easy way to reuse the material for a new oil painting.

I hope you all enjoyed this longer more informative post! If any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me via my socials!

 

Until next week,

Riya

 

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Portfolio: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/