Eyeshadow Dreams
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A long, long time ago… when every kid knew the lyrics to Don McLean’s song that started out with those same words, before I knew pastels existed, back when blue eyeshadow was all the rage and my mother’s idea of doing her own face was a light dusting of pressed powder to dull any glow or shine and a little chap stick for her lips so naturally, make-up was forbidden. It was one of those sinful things in the Naz Way (if you read that post) but, ever resourceful me, traded and swapped trinkets at school to acquire powdered eye shadows from friends who stole their older sister’s cosmetics.
Did I dab them on my eyelids? Oh no… I used the eyeshadow as art supplies. Sometimes, I created eyeshadow skies for the same, simplistic abstract birds in flight that I still draw today, just so they could soar amongst the not quite real looking clouds.
Sometimes, I swiped drops of food coloring from my mother’s pantry to mix with baby powder, trying to create clean mixes of new colors, but that was risky as mom would notice if I swiped too much.
No, today’s art was not drawn in eyeshadow. I was tempted. I thought about using eyeshadow when the idea to do a throw-back drawing hit me on the bus today, but my Elizabeth Arden set of shadows only has one shade of blue and it is kind of senseless since I have this set of 80 Sennelier half sticks, real pastels to play with.
I have not thought about those eyeshadow drawings in years, not sure why they even crossed my mind today.
Did you ever make your own art supplies or repurpose something else?
Thank you for viewing my art!
Posted on May 24, 2012, in Uncategorized and tagged 100% cotton paper, art, art supplies, Artist Trading Card, atc, Barnes, colored pencil drawing, daily art blog, eyeshadow, Sennelier soft pastels. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
I’ve never personally created my own paints but I do have a painting that was done in butter used to lift magazine ink and make paint. Ahhh I remember the days of blue eyeshadow…may they rest in peace – or in your artwork!
Butter ink? Wow… that’s a creative way to make an oil based paint! A young man recently told me about using Skiddles to make water colour paints. It amazes me how those denied basic art supplies find ways to create anyway. Thanks for commenting!
Okay, I think this is my favorite. So peaceful and you’re not going to believe it, but just seconds ago, I was listening to American Pie song and heard those lyrics. Then I opened your post and had to chuckle. As for blue eye shadow. That color still looks bad on me. I remember in high school, Leonore Moschitto who used to wear gobs and gobs of blue eye shadow, looked squarely into my face, studied my eyes and said, “Never wear blue eyeshadow. It’ll look ghastly on you.” So I never have. Leonore’s words always stuck with me. Now, purple…well, that’s another story.
Oh, that is sweet… thank you! It must have been an American Pie day.
As for eye shadow, I have to laugh because I look horrid in green eye shadow, so sickly that I’ve only worn it when I planned to call off work the next day as someone would always ask if I was feeling okay. Maybe blue has the same effect on you?
When I was teaching I had my students explore how to create art without any purchased supplies – they came up with many amazing ideas, including mandalas in the park using fallen leaves, rocks, fallen flower petals etc. They also made brushes from shredded twigs and ‘paints’ from boiled tea-bags, onion skins and beet juice…
Oh, those mandalas sound amazing! I hope they left them for strangers to discover and wonder about the symbology of the chosen items. It sounds like they enjoyed discovering ways to be creative without typical supplies. Thanks for commenting!