This project proved to be more difficult than I initially thought it would be.

It started off as a very relaxing zen exercise, drawing some simple leaves, but the minute I had to create some loose florals that's when I started struggling. So I had to bring out the big guns, literally, I have to take out a much bigger brush than the #6 I've started with. And I was relatively satisfied with the new results. 

While watching the classes I just kept thinking : these elements put together would make a great dreamcatcher. And I think it kind of did. 

For the final project I changed the paper from my khadi sketchbook to an Arches block, and the result was completely different. First of all I didn't get any hard water edges (however kind of liked them in my practice piece), but the results were more predictable. 

Also I've used a couple of reference photos to get the florals in place. 

I didn't really think through the final colour scheme, and even though tried to keep the feathers' colours more or less in line with the colours I used for the flowers, the final result is still a bit unbalanced. I might be able to fix this by adding a darker tint to the blue purple feather. 

This project was definitely a bit of a challenge as I rarely 'let my hair down' in my work, so to speak. And it felt good to step out of my comfort zone and try something different. 

 

I'll be definitely going back to the final piece and adding a bit more detail here and there and getting a bit more contrast in places.