Inspire Me Monday - Happy Accidents

GOOD MORNING POWER POPPY FANS! This is Nancy Sheads and I’m back today with another coloring video for Inspire Me Monday. This time I’m featuring the Go Wild Stamp Set by Power Poppy. The set includes the three vignettes as shown as well as a variety of birthday related sentiments.

When I first started coloring I watched a lot of videos and to be honest I was pretty frustrated by them. The videos were sped up so much that it was hard to follow anything technique wise. Or they were so heavily edited that you didn’t see any mistakes. Learning to color is a process and as a student it sometimes helps to see the stops and starts, do overs, and decisions made along the way to the end result.

So today I’m showing you a first attempt at coloring this image so that you the process warts and all. The video is slightly sped up, but not so fast that you can't follow what's happening. You’ll also see that I used a lot of markers as I kept experimenting to get the colors, depth, and saturation that I wanted. 

If I were teaching this stamp set in a class, I would have colored it several times so my students would see the pared down marker list rather than all of the experimentation. Out of consideration for my students, I try to limit the number of markers required for class so I end up repeating the same color combinations from class to class so that my students don't have to buy so many markers to participate.

But when left to my own devices, I'll use several BV markers to help add depth or layer multiple light BG, B, BV and even RV markers in backgrounds to help pop areas forward and push others back. I'm comfortable with my markers thanks to hours of practice. But I also remind my students that I'm not teaching paint by number. I want them to learn to how to adjust and refine their coloring rather than blindly following the teacher.

So here's this week's video, warts and all. Sometimes I get a little carried away with flicking, causing the camera to shake. Sometimes I realize that I missed an area and have to go back and add color. Sometimes I have re-evaluate something I already colored and make adjustments. And sometimes I just have to pause and think about where I'm going and how I'm going to get there.

Creativity is a process. But like Bob Ross said, "There are no mistakes. Just happy accidents."

Here's this week's happy accident.

Thanks for joining me today! Be sure you check out my Power Poppy coloring videos on YouTube.

See you again soon and stay safe!

** Nancy **