Peacocks and Flamingos

You know how there are just some phrases that stick with you? I saw this quote while surfing the interwebs for inspirational quotes for girls, and it really struck a note. Not because it's true, because it's totally true, but it applies to everyone.

So the inspiration was this image. I'm sorry that I don't have the proper web credit, but it was a google image search. I could totally do the text, but I'm no good at watercolors, even though I love them. So how could I achieve the same effect as this gorgeous inspiration piece?

Go tribal. I knew that there were tons of examples of tribal peacocks so I found one that would work and then used that as my guide, but what about the flamingo? I couldn't find any tribal flamingos that I liked or thought that I could draw, so I ended up drawing that flamingo from scratch.

I think it worked out pretty well, and after many, many, many sketches I was finally to a place where I liked my pencil drawing.

Then I sat on it. I didn't do anything with the sketch for a few days. Then I decided that Baby Girl needed a new shirt, but I also wanted a hard copy of my art. So I decided that I'd work on the hard copy of the art first. The hard copy still isn't done to my liking. Moving on.

Next was Baby Girl's  new shirt. Target has some really adorable plain white tee's for the kids right now. The sleeves are cuffed and it's got a cute silhouette. I like this shirt so much that I bought another shirt for her 4th of July shirt.

So I started with my sharpies. Love my sharpies! I gently outlined all the text and the main bits of the birds. I used a light hand so that the sharpie didn't snag on the material of the shirt. I then went back and added thicker strokes to the first lines I'd made. I was definitely following the "You can always add more" rule.

So after the sharpie was on and I was happy with it, I heat set it with the iron. I turned my iron up to the wool setting and then using a press cloth ran over the drawing for about 30ish seconds.

Next I prepped my paint. I wanted to water down my paints to create a watercolor effect with my fabric paint. I added a bit of water to each color until it looked right. I then gently went over each line of the birds, adding color as I saw fit. I finished up the birds with some hits of glitter or pearl paint. The bits of glitter are just the thing to make each bird stand out.

You can see that how the color spread on the dry shirt, creating this kind of abstract watercolor effect. I really like how it all came together, and Baby Girl was very happy with her new shirt!

Thanks so much for stopping by!