My Life in Palette: "Kalipay" Project for a Dear Friend 🎨

Painting alone is never lonely.

Instead, it opens up a door for me, leading me into a portal of sublime realm only my palette has the magic to take me to, giving me a spin of an astonishing excursion into long roads of loving and cherishing myself even more, in the most artistic journey, only my palette could ever wondrously navigate.

Hello everyone!
The art-enthusiast soul in me is again in the mood in giving you a virtual peep into my so-called "gallery" in which another hand-painted tote bag that I and my humble palette have happily completed last weekend - for the sole purpose of giving it as birthday present to a dear friend of mine. I hope it won't bore you. ☺️

My friends, welcome again to the virtual world of my life's vibrant colors, brushes and palette! 🎨

"Kalipay Project"

I called this one such name. Kalipay in our Visayan dialect means "happiness". And what has it to do with "happiness" anyway?! Oh well, it's because aside from the fact that there's no such dull moment every time that I am having an exclusive date with my artwork, my heart is always full of blissfulness whenever I am painting, this one (again) will be given to a special friend who will be celebrating her birthday soon. And the thought of it that I have poured so much of my heart into every brush stroke that I made, so for it to be as beautiful as I think it can ever be, for her to love it makes me happy, genuinely happy. She used to be my colleague but I was able to work with her for just one year. She resigned recently (to look for greener pasture?! I guess!) and that makes my heart stumbled in loneliness because for the one year that she was with me in the office, she has become very close to me. She was such a sweet person with a very good sense of humor, that's why I was so happy being with her and was able to build an incredible friendship even for that very short span of time. And now I want to repay that gift of happiness that she has imprinted within me by giving her a touch of my love through the hand-painted bag I exclusively made for her.

So here we go...let me just again share with you the simple process of how this "happiness project" has come to materialize.

• The sketching

To start things up, I had to sketch the object first on the blank canvas for the layout I will be using before brushing it with paint. I sketch an image of a flamingo bird as it came naturally to mind when I was thinking about what particular object to paint.

• The first coating

As soon as I had the image already sketched, the next thing I did is mixed the color of paint to be applied on the first coat. This color is called quadruple-magenta, one of my favorite colors. It gives a shade of pink color result that's why there's a strong touch of a lady in it. And I found it so lovely making my heart while stroking the paintbrush, even more, happier.

• Coloring the whole image

After I had added the monstera leaves (you probably might have noticed it's one of my favorite subjects to paint😁), I fully colored the whole image.

• Adding the background

As soon as I have completed coloring the image, I added black background for a more dramatic effect. Looking at the result, made me automatically smile.

• Adding shadows and highlighting

This is the portion wherein the shadows and highlights add life to the object. And it's my favorite part because I know that the painting is almost done.

• Putting the additional effects

Leaves will look more realistic when water droplets are added, don't you think? So I painted some of them, adding a touch of more dramatic effect. I hope it gives justice though. 😁

And finally, as I was staring at the painting, I think I can finally say that this "Kalipay Project" is done, giving my heart kalipay (happiness) indeed.

• Adding the name❤

I wanted to hand this gift to her with her name printed on it for the complete sense of thought that this one's made exclusively for her.

And for the final process to fully wrapped this painting with my heart's happiness;

• Finally, the gift wrapping - sealed it with love 💌

I wanted to share the happiness I was feeling while making this one with her so I included wrapping the smile inside. Sealing it with all my love and happiness.

Yesterday I was able to send it to her and the happiness that this project has been aiming to accomplish was fulfilled when she called me and she told me how happy she was when it reached her. She told me that she has been seeing my painting posted on Facebook and Instagram and she has been loving it since then. And she loves it even more now that she can finally call it her own. She has no idea how happy it made me as I was hearing the happiness in her voice. It is painting my heart with different shades of indescribable bliss.

It pays me off with a priceless reward - kalipay. ❤