Hello!
Over the summer holidays, for some odd reason, I've become more motivated and my muse has had a craving for practicing my artistic skills. This is something I was desperate to do over the summer as I really do love art but since I left school and entered college my muse hasn't been fed.
If you knew me back at school you'd know that this is a big deal for me! Throughout my life I've always been interested in more creative and artistic things. For as long as I can remember I have always been drawing (I even have an artistic based nickname to prove it!). I'll admit that over the past year I have done a few pieces of artwork but not to the extent that I used to and want to. Perhaps confidence and lack of belief in myself has a part to play but I've gotten into the mindset to tell myself that I'm still learning and that practice makes perfect.
Seeing as I had visited my friends from school for a week I decided to feed my muse and take advantage of the bare faces in my presence -insert evil laugh-.
As you may have already figured out, I am partial to a bit of face/body painting (usually on the hands) and this is what happened:
I set myself the theme 'The Elements' and tried to match my friends personalities to the elements. Each element look has the symbol for that element painted just above the middle of the eyebrows (if you type in element symbols into a search engine, you're sure to find quite a few. I just happened to choose these).
In the first image is my friend Katie. I decided that fire suited her and the reasons for this is that she's passionate about her morals and opinions. She isn't one to let people extinguish (see what I did there?) her opinions easily and for any illogical reason such as to be spiteful. She's one to stick to her guns when it comes to her morals and that's something that inspires my own way of living (she's also totally hot in red - another shameless pun).
The lovely lady in the second image, and my best chum, is Layla; I based her design around the element of air. I did discuss the reasons why I chose these elements for each of my friends but I wasn't entirely truthful about Layla's. One of the main reasons I chose this element for her was that I adore her laugh. It's not a cliché airy giggle, quite the opposite but I smile and laugh along every time I hear it. Her happiness (and the happiness of all my friends) raises my own spirits and spending time with them never fails to bring me joy. Her laugh, despite being the opposite of an airy giggle, reminds me of the cliché anyway.
"She is like the wind, open and free.", is a quote by Christine Feehan (cited in Dark Prince) that I have come across once before and I think it is extremely fitting for my friend. I do not know what the original sentence is describing or explaining (as I have not read the extract it comes from) but I think it describes Layla a lot. She's often travelling around, exploring different places whether it's abroad or at home. She's always got something to do but she takes it so well and seems as if nothing is to hard a task for her. There's a lot about my friends that inspire me and the motivation Layla has is one of them!
Now I know this isn't really drawing with a pencil and paper but I enjoy it and it's still an art. I have been practicing with traditional materials as well but I'm not quite ready to show that off yet as I haven't finished the pieces. I'm sure you'll see them soon enough over on my Instagram account (awanderlustbeing) though.
I think that's it for this blog post! I was planning on doing Water and Earth themed looks as well but I ran out of time that week so perhaps you'll see them pop up on my Instagram. I'll update this blog post in the future if I do happen too them or I'll make a part 2!
Sending my love,
As always,
A Wanderlust Being.
-x-