Challenge - Panoramic - Noah Bradley's M13 Plains

As you may recall, I'm a super nerd for Magic: The Gathering. The artists who illustrate these cards are freaking HEROES! One of my favorites is Noah Bradley. His works are evocative and breathtaking and his use of color makes my inner artist green with envy.

Without further delay, I did my best to capture his M13 Plains with acrylic paint!

I ain't too humble to confess that I'm proud as shit of this manicure. I love the colors and it is probably the first time I've illustrated a cloud that didn't look like some kind of cartoon sheep. In person, it does resemble buttered mashed potatoes but, hey, that's not a sheep.

BONUS: Noah Bradley offered (on reddit) to sign some of his cards if one mailed him a postage paid envelope with the cards to be signed.I jumped at the opportunity and made him a thank you card. He signed my cards and returned them with the following note:

I AM A BIG DEAL.

Challenge - Indy and The Lost Ark!

This was a difficult one for me! While I totally love me some Indiana Jones, I struggled with what I could possibly paint to do it justice.  I landed on Raiders of the Lost Ark because I adore that ugly gold idol a little too much; it cracks me up!  

I started with the Staf of Ra on my thumb. It isn't perfect but I really love how the gem kinda brings the picture together.  I couldn't get a good picture of it to save my life, though.  Please forgive the uber-blurriness.

From there I moved to my buddy the Golden Fertility Idol.  I spent SO MUCH TIME ON THIS.  It doesn't look how I wanted it to, but I am impressed I was able to do anything similar to it.  It's crazy hard to paint something that small and reflective on a pinky nail. Some may say "Poor planning, Teyie." and to them I say, "Yep, totally."

Finally, I tried to illustrate the craziness that was the Ark of the Covenant itself.  By this time I was pretty tired and fed up with how my fingers were cramping from painting the gold idol.  I kina phoned it in. Sorry! Please avert your eyes if you're offended by golden bathtubs spewing electric blue coral.

Challenge - Inspired by Art - John Avon's Unhinged Forest

Hello, My name is Teyie and I'm a super-mega-(awesome)-nerd!
Hi, Teyie.

When this challenge came up I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I love classic art and have a handful of favorites, but translating them into nail art was impossible (I'm looking at you, Bernini).  Then, Mr. Husband reminded me that we have over 10,000 unique little pieces of art in our Magic The Gathering collection.

For years I have coveted the cards John Avon illustrated.  His use of color and depth to create a magical representation of something as simple as terrain is breathtaking.  In fact, I loved them so much that I purchased the lithograph set of his Unhinged Lands and have them hanging in my living room. I chose my favorite of the 5 for this week's inspiration.

This was my first attempt at painting with acrylics.  I just picked up a big ol' set of them and will probably use them for my more complex designs again.  I had a blast doing this mani and I'm pretty proud of the result, so I took extra pictures!