Art & stuff - an update

[amberdreams]

i'm feeling rather sleepy and putting it down to the course of antibiotics I'm on for my tooth implant. I don't think of dentistry as surgery but the info sheet the dentist gave me talks about post surgery actions so I suppose it was. Over an hour of jaw achingly unpleasant drilling and bone strengthening... yeah, I wouldn't particularly choose to do this again for fun. LOL

Anyway, art-wise, I've been doing birthday art for my friend Lois, who's into foxes big time, but also loves the esoteric and Green Men. So I thought I'd combine the two for her card, and did some watercolours for her.
Here's the fox sketch

and here's the finished watercolour.

I actually managed to resist adding linework when I'd done with the watercolours, which makes a change. 😁

These are my Roman Szmal colours, and I really like them. I'd definitely recommend these for anyone looking at starting watercolours - they are great quality, but also exceedingly good value for money. They are Polish and handmade with honey as a binder, so some pans are quite sticky, but that also makes them very easy to activate. The colours are all rich and a lot of them are single pigments which is good. They also have some gorgeous granulating mixed pigment colours. All the paints are full pans, and I think in the US they are even cheaper than in the UK - you can buy them via Jackson's art supplies, or in Europe there's a Spanish seller, Artemiranda, whose prices were comparable. They work out about half the cost of brands like Daniel Smith but all the reviews I've seen from expert watercolourists say the quality is just as good, and the range of colours to choose from is really good too.

Comments

[siennavie.livejournal.com]

I sympathize with you on the agonizing dental procedures; I've had my share *hugs*

That drawing is beautiful and the colors (and intensity) that you used are fabulous!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

ugh, dentists... My hubby's cousin has been having all his own teeth gradually taken out and replaced with implants, so I foolishly thought it would be fairly routine stuff when one of my big molars had to be extracted. Heh. I doubt I'll be rushing to have this done again unless I absolutely have to - and the cost is quite huge compared to crowns etc.

What sort of problems have you faced?

[siennavie.livejournal.com]

It's a long story but basically I had a dentist who had great references, but who left me with 3 troublesome crowns. Just over a year later, a new dentist recommended a fix for two of them, but it led to pain instead and needing root canals and finally one being extracted when the root canals failed. I thought I would need a bone graft and implant too, but that specialist wasn't greedy at least and said since it was the last tooth in the back, I could do without one. Then, shortly after that, one of those new crowns, plus the final third crown broke (both hardly lasted as long as one I had since a kid). I don't know. It just feels like my gums have been stabbed with a needle a million times. It took me too long to realize don't do dental work unless you *absolutely* need to. I was young and naive and had just started making my own money with that first dentist and I let him talk me into "better" (no mercury!) and "nicer" looking teeth. Ugh, sorry to unload. My decisions on this have haunted me for years.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ugh, no, I totally understand. We went to a very old fashioned dentist throughout my childhood and then he finally retired fully and we started seeing a modern dentist with new fangled things like x rays and electric drills (yes, my old dentist was VERY old!). This new one was also trendy and the fad in the late 70s early 80s was to take out the slightest bit of decay then overfill the tooth with massive amalgam fillings. So I ended up having about 6 or 7 of these massive fillings where he (I later found out) took out healthy tooth as well as the decayed part - which unsurprisingly left my teeth structurally weaker. If I had the energy and proof I'd flipping track him down and sue the bugger. I've had no end of problems since. And the kicker is he wouldn't even have done it for the money because I was under 18 at the time and getting my treatment at no cost on the NHS.

Dentists, huh? Finding a good one who isn't motivated by profit is frigging hard. Which is why I maintain dentistry should never have been privatised in the first place.

[siennavie.livejournal.com]

Oh no. Most dentists are definitely way too quick and eager to drill away, to "fix" an existing problem without thinking about the long-term consequences. Fillings and crowns are absolutely no substitute for the real thing and just cost more money, time, and pain down the road. *sigh* I wish I had the drive to sue, too.

[sillie]

Oh, yikes to the dental work. Did you get a screw put in for the implant? It's not fun but they last a long time. I had one put in when I was 18 and it's still going now. :)

Oh Amb, that card looks amazing. Great work!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes - the base screw thing is now in, and because I'd had a longer gap than they wanted between having the tooth out and the implant done, he had to reinforce the bone in my jaw, which was why it look so long. Good to get confirmation they are pretty durable though! This should hopefully last longer than me LOL

And thanks re the card 💕

[kazluvsbooks.livejournal.com]

Awesome art 🎨 💛
And eeeek dentists ::runs away::

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Sorry about combining an art post with teeth! LOL

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

I love the Green Fox! I hope you're soon feeling better, any major dental work is so tiring.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

thanks on both counts!

[kalliel]

WOW that is gorgeous. <33333 And those watercolors sound excellent! (Not that I have any reference for watercolors; they only kind I've used at the dollar store ones that come with like 4 colors and a plastic brush, hahahaha.)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Well if you ever decide to branch out into watercolours, I'd definitely recommend those paints. And splash out on 100% cotton paper, it really does make a difference (you can buy it much cheaper via alliexpress which is like China's Amazon, as long as you're not in a hurry as shipping takes yonks)

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

it's the green fox! that's a fantastic painting. i know nothing about watercolors (or any paint, actually...) but weirdly enough i love reading about artists' experiences with their various supplies and tools. it's neat.

ugh, tooth surgery. i hope you're all recovered by now!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you on both counts! I'm hoping my friend likes the fox 😁
My jaw seems to have settled down now too, thanks - fingers crossed having the stiches out won't be such a palaver.