Powwow Dancers

Was playing in the Fail Book with my big paintbrush today, trying to capture the movement of some kids dancing at the Odawa Powwow in Emmet County, Michigan. Reference photos courtesy of fellow Flickrite June Hymas.

No great works of art here, but a few things went right.



This little guy had a least a hundred bright orange streamers on his outfit. I felt sorry for his momma having to sew all those on.

I got the proportions right! Yay! Except for the head. Sigh. I am very pleased that I was able to capture the movement of his legs and feet. The raised leg and pointed toe came out great. The foot still on the ground looks perfect too. Yay! And the feathers and fur of the headdress are excellent if I do say so myself.

There is good movement in this piece and that's something that is sorely lacking in my artwork.

All-in-all, this little guy gets a big Woot!

Now the girl. Oy. Some major fails here, but there are some accidents that came out right and I want to Remember These Things.



First of all, the poor girl was not the color of a beet. Too much paint on the brush and I couldn't get it thinned down to pink before it set. Oh well. I actually like the color, it's just not very lifelike. I smashed her nose in trying to get it to look right. She looks like a retired boxer with respiratory problems.

Her legs are way out of proportion to the rest of her body. Actually her feet may be right but her head is too big. One way or the other it looks like she may tip over at any moment.

Her face was too fat on the left side, so I painted the dark blue/black across it...a painterly facelift. I continued the blue black halo around her head as if it was a night scene. I very much like how that turned out.

The vest -


I like the watery mix of the different colors and how the yellowy orange pops next to the black and brown.

The fringe -


The fringe came very close to what I've been attempting to do. The colors have all run together so the separate strands are no longer discernible, but the eye "fills in" where each strand lives. Super wicked cool. Love that. Very painterly.

The leggings -



I like the richness of the mix of colors. I've been working and working and working on trying to get the paint to mix like this and every attempt has been a big fail. I managed it here because, duh, I didn't clean the brush out when switching colors. Now how simple was that solution. MUST. REMEMBER. THAT.