NOTD: Les Elephants

Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike! What day is it?

It's the day that Michelle manages to post not TWO, but THREE challenges on time!

That's right, earlier I got in my Mish Mash challenge post, and this post covers two challenges. The theme in my CNT's 33 Day Challenge is 'your most used color'. Mine is definitely red, especially in real life--I try not to deluge the blog in red, but it is mah signature color. In my Llama Nails 'Inspired By An Artist' challenge, today's artist is Dali.

I had a manicure planned for Dali that was more along the lines of 'inpired by' and not so much 'copy of', but I have been encouraged by a fellow blogger to practice my drawing, so I decided to do another attempt at a nail version of a painting. I hope to do the other manicure tomorrow, so stayed tuned for that (possibly).

For now, I looked through some Dali paintings to find one that had red as the predominant color. Here is the one I found and liked, although I was (and am) scared of copying it on nails:

(Source) 

This was a bit scary for me because to put the two loooong elephants on my index and pinkie was clearly going to be difficult; well, at least with the pinkie. Another challenge is I don't really have a brush small enough to get that teeeeny detail in--I need to invest in a better brush set, clearly. But, it's not a challenge if it doesn't challenge you, so I decided to go for it.

I took some artistic license by omitting the obelisks from the elephant's backs--it was either the legs or the obelisks, and I like the surreality of the long skeletal spider legs. I also decided to drop off the bottom of the horizon, and just focus on the colors of the sky, again so I could try to do the elephants themselves justice. You'll see what I mean.

I started with a gradient of China Glaze Igniting Love and Sun Worshipper; I first painted the Sun Worshipper on the bottom of the nail, and then sponged the gradient over it roughly, to get the sorts of lines you see in the painting. Then I busted out the acrylics, got frustrated with my brush, and ended up practicing not only my drawing skills but the fine art of paint mixing, since I only had one tube of white and one tube of grey-brown to make this work (I apparently also need to invest in a larger acrylics set now that I'm doing this more, lol).

Here is the result:

How can you tell when an elephant has been in your refrigerator?

Footprints in the butter. :)

If you look past the fact that one of the elephants looks like a wolf that's been in a nuclear reactor meltdown, I think it's not too bad. And the other one mostly looks like an elephant, except for the fact that I ran out of room for it's face. Turns out that it's much easier to have your elephant come out looking like an elephant and not a Chernobyl wolf if you don't have to worry too much about the face.

Anyway, I'll tell you this--trying to paint these was certainly a surreal experience for me.  Hahahahahahhahahahahaaa. Well, at least I crack myself up.

Don't forget to check out the other 'most used color' manis and the other Dali-esque manis, linked below!

Peace, hugs, and love,
M.