Shout, shout, let it all out....

 

Oh my, this was fun, I have to do this again one day :)

This page is in response to a prompt on the excellent Year In The Life Of An Art Journal site, where they offer three part prompts every fortnight, including a theme, a technique and a song, any or all of which you can use as a springboard for a journal page in any way you choose.

The current prompt is as follows:

• theme - "confidence shot"
• song - Strut by Adam Lambert (lyrics)
• product/technique - eye shadow

I'd never heard of the song before, or even the singer (according to Wiki he's an American Idol contestant), and it wasn't totally my kind of thing, but I did love the lyrics - especially the part "open your mouth, open it wide, let the freedom begin!" -  so that was my starting point

I wanted something to illustrate the shouting out part, and as I was the only model I had on hand, I used a self portrait

It was entertaining watching "cartoon me" evolving, so here's a few photos I took along the way:

Original photo.  I'm supposed to be joyously shouting.  instead I look like I've just seen a ghost :)  acting is not my core skill!

Photo lightly gesso'd, and skin tones, teeth and whites of eyes painted in....plus double chin obliterated :)

Jewellery, clothing, and rather glam red lipstick added....instead of the eye shadow mentioned in the prompt - I didn't want to make myself look too Bet Lynch!

 

...with the addition of hair and a tongue, cartoon me is nearly done...

The black outlines finish everything off nicely

I really enjoyed this, right up until the point when my 18 year old son walked past after I had been painstakingly painting for a few hours, and announced that I was wasting my time as "mum, I could have done that in 30 seconds in Adobe Illustrator"... bah ... I think he's missing the point :)

So - what does all this have to do with a "confidence shot"?....let me tell you.....

The reason the "let the freedom begin!" part of the song lyrics appealed to me so much was that it worked on two counts... in the short term I feel freed from stress this week, as my fortnight-from-hell is behind me at work, and now that we have recruited an extra team member, hopefully it will never get that stupidly busy again....and in the broader sense, I have more freedom in my life now than I had in the first 40 years put together.  Part of this is undoubtedly down to being in the best relationship I have ever had, part is down to finally feeling secure in my job, but it all boils down to feeling in control of my own destiny, not being limited by fear or insecurities - and THAT comes from confidence.  I don't know exactly where this newfound confidence and feelings of security have come from, but please can I keep them???

Life is good for me right now.

[I have to add, I feel a twinge of guilt writing those words today of all days, thinking of poor Sian O' Callaghan whose murdered body was found today :(  RIP Sian, the whole of Swindon is in shock and mourning, nobody can quite believe this has happened to one of our own]


AJED : 69 / 365