Part 1: Fun things to paint - 'Music Polaroids'
If you looking for fun things to paint on a lazy Sunday or a Mundane Monday here's a very easy DIY to create your own cute watercolor polaroid art. If you wondering how to paint polaroids?
You need only 3 things to make these -
1) Your creativity
2) Imagination and
3) A few of the art supplies are mentioned below in the material section.
These are very much achievable by a beginner/newbie artist. If you are a 'painting to music' type like me, plug into your favorite music and get into that artistic zone of yours!
In this painting polaroids tutorial, I am going to show you 2 different polaroids of my favorite music. We are about to create a stunning night landscape and a vivid painting of a cherry blossom, which combines the beauty of watercolor and the timelessness of a music polaroid that can make you dream and travel beyond space and time.
Catch-all in action here:
Preparation:
Take an A4 size watercolor paper and cut it into 4 pieces. Now create a square shape with your masking tape (as shown above in image 4). Voila, your polaroids are now ready to paint.
TIP: You can also experiment with painting on polaroids that have worn off or are disposable. It can be a great way to upcycle old polaroids and reuse them. The only thing you would need to do is switch to acrylic medium or mix acrylics with watercolors and have amazing custom-made colors out of them.
Polaroid 1: 'Watermelon Sugar' by Harry Styles polaroid painting
Let's start by making a cool watermelon watercolor wash. We will start off by making the pinkish shade of watermelon flesh followed by adding a pop of green for its skin.
Step 1: To make the color spread easily across the paper first, give an even layer of clear water to wet the paper just the right amount. This is also called a wet-on-wet technique in which you use wet paints on a wet surface allowing it to flow through the wet area.
Step 2: Use a no. 3 round brush, load it with a "Crimson" color, and loosely paint across 1/3 of the square area. Once done, wash off the color from your brush and gently pull down the crimson color to create a smooth transition.
TIP: If you notice that a lot of water and paint is pooling around the edges of your masking tape you can soak up the extra water with a paper towel or a thirsty brush; Simply dab the paper towel or your brush to get rid of that excess water.
Step 3: Next, we need to create a variegated wash which is a kind of wash that allows you to blend 2 or more colors. Paint the bottom end with "Light Green" and this time pull the concentrated pigment upwards towards the crimson shade. Clean your brush and stroke across the area to achieve a smooth blend between the two colors.
Step 4: When your paint is dry, pull off the masking tape, take a black marker by Sakura or zig and add these tiny little details and hand-drawn icons on the bottom side of your polaroids like a playlist thumbnail and TADA! Your first watercolor music art polaroid is ready.
Polaroid 2: 'Sunflower' by Shannon Purser polaroid painting
For this one, draw a basic pencil sketch of a sunflower. You can either take a reference from the internet or copy the one I have made above. Next, load a no. 3 round brush with a "Dusk Orange" color and make tiny strokes from the center of the petals towards the tip (Refer Image 2). Repeat this step for all the petals and then mix a "chrome yellow"; this time painting from the tip of the petals towards the end creating a smooth blend. To paint the center, take "Yellow Ochre" mix it with "Burnt Sienna" dab it gently in the center making a slight texture. Next, paint the white space with "Slate Black".
After drying, peel off the masking tape and sketch out the polaroid design as shown below. I have also added a few details on the sunflower for it to pop out even more. I love the minimal colors and the classy look on this one. Let's move on to the next one.
Yay! you have created two new custom-made watercolor polaroids. Wasn't it fun? Traveling to a dream destination might not be physically possible at the moment but you can surely travel anywhere in the world through art. These tiny little painting activities have kept me from unnecessary thoughts and got me very productive throughout the day.
I hope you find your "me-time" and get some art flowing through your imagination. Don't forget to share what you made to nupoor@vivivacolors.com or comment below your experience in creating these :) See you at the next one!
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