Pressto-Change-O!!!

Well here she is my girlie with her red balloon!!

And I'm here to tell you she did not come easy.

She stated out as and idea.  

I wanted to paint red balloon.

I had a picture in my mind and tried to put it down on paper, 

and this is what I came up with...

Hated It!!

No matter how I tried I just could not find any love for this little girlie.

I gave her a whole week to grow on me and still, nothing!

So I got my tub of spackling out and made her go away.

Although she was gone my vision of a red balloon wasn't.

So I started again.

I drizzled some paint and sketched an outline.

My girlie began to emerge pretty quickly after that.

I liked where this painting was going, so much so I went outside and gave her a 

coat of spray sealant.

But no sooner had I started to spray, than the previous painting outline started bleeding through.

This was quite aggravating as well as exciting for me.

First off I was aggravated, because the marker I used to outline my first painting was 

bleeding right though.

But secondly I was thrilled, because I finally found a marker worth the money I spent for it!!

The bleed through was right in the middle of my girlie's face.  

So I got my gesso out and painted over the whole face.  

As soon as that dried I started over with a fresh coat of flesh tone.

The gesso did the trick, no bleeding marker, it was all gone.

But once I started putting on the finishing touches of blush to the cheeks, 

something else happened.

I started to get streaking, blotching and uneven color.

So I took out my sand paper, sanded down the ridges and grooves left 

by the gesso and started over again.

It took me three tries to get this far. 

 I had to keep sanding those ridges,

 (note to self always sand gesso before you start painting)

Finally got an even skin tone, yea!!

All that was needed was some lips and freckles.

And there you have it the final product!!!

Although she was a lot of work and very aggravating at times, 

I do have to say that I am very happy with her!

It's funny how this one little painting can mimic life.  

I began to look back over a few of my other paintings, 

and realized this little girlie disaster was not my first.

There was this one...

It was the eyes, I couldn't get past those alien eyes, and that freaky looking lamb.

So I tuned her into...

This transformation also made me very happy!!

So I guess the motto to my story is:

Stick with it, keep trying, step back take a deep breath,

then get right back in there and create!

x0x0x