A GIRL WHO LOVES BOATS (ART UPDATE) #1

Hello everyone. How are you doing? I'm welcoming August with new art projects. You know I like to keep myself occupied, right? Today I'll show you a painting (medium acrylic paints on canvas) inspired by Vrboska village on island Hvar. I painted this painting using one of my own photographs as a reference. The canvas I used was a gift from a fellow blogger Natalia from  In The Writer's Closet blog.

HR Zdravo svima. Kako ste? Ja dočekujem kolovoz s novim umjetničkim projektima. Znate ja volim zanimati se svačim.  Danas ću vam pokazati novu sliku (medij su akrilne boje na platnu) nadahnutu mjestom Vrboska na otoku Hvaru. Naslikala sam ovu sliku koristeći jednu od svojih fotografija kao referencu. Platno koje sam koristilo poklon je Natalije s bloga In The Writer's Closet.

I'm somewhat happy with how this painting turned out. I mean it's nice but I think I could do even better. I'm planning a new version of this painting but I need to buy some new art supplies first.

FEELING THE GREEN AND BLUE VIBES FOR SUMMER 2020

This summer green and blue are proving to be my favourite colours. I do like the combo of this green maxi dress with a denim vest (I'll show you this vest in more details some other time, it has some cool embroidery I made myself). This combination is something I haven't worn outside my home yet, but I plan to. The green dress was gifted to me about two years ago (it first appeared in post HOW TO ACCESSORIZE SUMMER DRESSES). I don't wear it often outside my home because my husband doesn't like it. I can't imagine why, it's such a cute dress. 

HR Donekle sam zadovoljna kako je ova slika ispala, ali nisam u potpunosti pa je moguće da ću probati naslikati novu verziju, međutim prvo moram svratiti do dućana i kupiti još boja. 

LJETO 2020: VOLIM ZELENU I PLAVU BOJU

Ovo ljeto se zelena i plava pokazuju kao moje omiljene boje. Sviđa mi se ova kombinacija zelene duge haljine i plavog prsluka od jeansa (pokazat ću vam ga detaljnije neki drugi put, ima na njemu i moga veza i ručnog rada). Ova kombinacija je nešto što još nisam nosila izvan doma, ali planiram. Zelena haljina mi je darovana prije dvije godine (prvi se put pojavila na blogu u ovoj objavi, ali nisam je često nosila jer se mužu ne sviđa).

 MY ACRYLIC PAINTING WITH DIGITAL EFFECTS & REDBUBBLE PRODUCTS

I added some digital effects to this BOATS AT SUNSET PAINTING and added this among my designs available as print on products on redbubble page.  I upload my art pretty regularly at redbubble site even if I don't make any sales, I like to have my art in  one place. I've also been exploring local printers and we ordered some of my art printed with local businesses, but maybe that's a subject better left for another post? I'm planning to compare prints from a local printer to that of redbubble. Let me know if you would be interested in such a comparison. Anyhow, I haven't changed this boat design a lot.  I only added a bit of glow because I wanted the painting to retain that classical look as opposed to digital art. For a while my laptop was broken so I focused on other forms of art, but I'll probably be back to exploring digital art in the future.

A CLASSIC T-SHIRT (RIGHT), A WHITE GRAPHIC T-SHIRT (SHORT SLEEVES) /LONG SLEEVES  (MIDDLE),  A BLACK ACTIVE T-SHIRT (LEFT)

PAINTING A BOAT DESIGN ON A T-SHIRT WITH TEXTILE PAINTS 

Bellow you can see a boat design I painted with textile paints by Marabu Textile (not sponsored). I'm not sure whether this design is finished. Maybe I'll add more colour, maybe I won't, I haven't decided yet. In the meantime, you can see how my painting on clothes turned out this time bellow. The t-shirt I painted on was purchased in a Kik store, so it is technically a fast fashion purchase, but I'll turn it sustainable by wearing it a lot. I wasn't able to find a bare t-shirt second hand, most of them are printed. Unfortunately, there aren't many second hand shops to choose from here but that's a subject for another day. If anyone is curious why this type of traditional Croatian wooden boats is a common theme in my art, it is because I have practically grown up in one of such boats. Maybe I'll speak more about it some other time. My family donated their wooden boat to a nearby local museum on the open, but unfortunately the boat was destroyed in a storm before it was transported. 

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE PAINTING ON CLOTHES

I'm no stranger to colour and pattern, it's something I've always enjoyed, it's a part of my style, so when I do DIY projects connected with fashion, it is only natural that this 'love for colourfulness' translated to my fashion style as well. If you sense of style is more minimal and classical, you'll probably have to think for a bit, to figure out about how this project of DIY painting of clothes can work for you. If you're not too keen on colour, you might want to use only black and white textile paints. Similarly, if you're not into bold designs and print, keep your 'painting' minimal. 

THE 'PAINTING ON CLOTHES' DILEMMA - PROS AND CONS TO CONSIDER

Basically, the 'painting on clothes' dilemma often comes down to: Should we paint on our clothes? I'll be the first to admit that hand-painted clothes can be a bit challenging to style. When you hand paint something, you're basically adding both colour and print (in some cases pattern to it). I wrote a dozen of posts about how much I love painting on clothing textile paints, but everything comes with pros and cons. If you love some clothing item to bits, perhaps you shouldn't change it. Perhaps you should keep it the way it is. I would say that painting with textile paints and similar kind of DIY projects work best when the clothing items we personalize (work on) are the ones we want to breathe new life in. Personalizing an old pair of jeans is always fun, but maybe we should think twice before painting on a brand new pair of jeans? Moreover, I'm always repeating how easy working with textile paints is - but I'm forgetting how  maybe it might not be so easy for someone who has never held a brush in their hand. True, you can always use a fixed design and just copy it. You don't really have to know to draw, you can trace a design. However, some bare minimal of resourcefulness is required so maybe it is better to say that it's relatively easy to use textile paints. Sometimes a printing company is a better option. You can also commission local artists to paint on your clothes (if you really can't hold a brush).

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PAINTING WITH TEXTILE CLOTHES

How to paint with textile (fabric) paints? Well if you buy the right kind of paint, it should be quite easy, Textile paints come in many shape and forms. If you want to draw and paint on clothes, then it is best to buy a more thicker paint, one that will enable you to paint with them in the same way you would with acrylic paints. As I have explained many times on this little place of mine, the process is fairly simple.  You draw or paint and then you wait for it to dry. Is it really as simple as that? Yes, it is! The more experience you have with arts and crafts in general, the easier it is bound ti be. There isn't any difference when it comes to using textile and regular paints. In fact, painting with textile paints is quite similar to using acrylic paints (which some people use to paint on clothes). There are basically two ways to paint on clothes (or bags and etc.), depending on whether  you want to paint a design/pattern/whatever by yourself or whether you want to copy a design (if you don't enjoy painting or if you don't think you're good at it). So, if you don't know how to paint, you can still do it by using the second method (copying some design). There are different kinds of fabric paints available on the market, I tried quite a few and as far as I can tell, they don't differ much in quality. So, if you want to give this DIY (i.e. painting on clothes) a try, buy some textile paints and get started. The only thing you should be careful about is placing something under the textile you're painting on, just to make sure that the paint doesn't end up everywhere. 

TWO OUTFIT IDEAS WITH A NEW HAND PAINTED T-SHIRT

I wore one of these two outfits yesterday. Can you guess which one? It was the one with the brown flare pants. I wasn't able to find many of my old posts to link to because it's been years since I wore them last. Now that I have gained twenty pounds in quarantine, these lovely flares are a good fit again. It's been so long since I weighted this much, I think the last time was more than fifteen years ago. It is soooo much fun being curvy again. I can wear all my high school jeans and pants again. Dresses and skirts are more forgiving about weight changes, but pants just have to be a good fit. Belting them doesn't help much if the weight change is substantial. I didn't want to have any of my old pants altered because I always hoped that I will gain the weight again and now about a decade and a half later I finally did. Anyhow, these flares are by a Croatian company Uzor that sadly doesn't exists anymore. I bought a lot of their stuff when they started to go under, but it was bitter sweet experience because I was so sad to see them go. I'm still happy I did, they had great quality stuff. If you ever come across Uzor label in second hand stores, buy buy buy it.  As for the other outfit proposal, I have had this pastel pink pleated skirt for years, but there is no label on it so I can't tell if is vintage or just old.

A CLOSER LOOK AT MY PAINTING

Bellow you can have another (closer) look at my new acrylic painting and we'll call it a day. Let me know what you think about it. Should I make another version? Do you like boats? What kind of themes would you like to see painted or illustrated? 

Thank you for reading and visiting. Stay safe and take care. XOXO