How She Does It- Painting Process

Hello, my pretties!! I am starting a new segment today! Yay! Called How She Does It, it is mainly going to be my DIY or photography or editing* or painting or...you get my drift. It's how I personally do things compared to how you are 'supposed' to.
Anyway! Here is my first How She Does It, and it is how I get photos for painting.
I am a huge fan of color. Bright, happy, color! Asked me a few years ago, I would have said black and red were my favorite colors, but now just any mix of colors is my favorite! I do take a lot of my paintings from photos or pictures, and this one is no exception.

*Just so everyone knows I mostly use Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 for editing. I do have Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 installed as well as Corel Painter Essentials 4, but I grew up using PSP, so am finding it hard to change to Photoshop! 

Okay, So I in fact have not painted this yet, I got the initial set up done, and then I will be painting it in the next few days. So first off, I find a photo that I like. I found this one of my sister when she was younger, working in our garden. After I find one, I reduce the colors in it.

(Click to make larger)

I usually go for 16 colors (the second on that list) but this time I went with the last option X Colors (4/8 bit)

I just played around with the colors till I got the following 

I went with 12 in the end. (So 12 main colors present)

I then decided what I wanted to keep in the painting and what I didnt. I decided to get rid of the house behind it, except for the main brick wall.

I will be filling it with paint in the painting stage. It wont be that stand out-y! 

I wont be painting my other sisters head either, but I wanted to keep the scene normal.

So thats what I would paint. The colors are ones that I can easily mix and it would be quite easy. But I mentioned my love for color. So while that is what I normally do, with this picture I would probably do something like this.

Happy times!

So much more color!!! This one was just a quick show and tell, so I dont like some of the colors (too much purple!) but for the idea, this is how I did it.

Now, I dont personally touch the Lightness meter, I let that stay the same. But I move Saturation up and Hue down. Whatever you decide, colors would be different (which is how i wouldnt get so much purple) 

All the meters start on 0. 

Anyway, that is how I do my paintings! Here is an example of one I did just recently. 

Percy. :) Unfortunately, I dont have the original photo anymore!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know if there is anything that you would like to see, I love reading all your comments! 

Thanks for stopping by!

How to Save Money (on clothes shopping!)

I've been busy, blah, blah, normal excuses, blah...
Ive had quite a few interesting experiences over the last few weeks, and now with a bit more time on my hands, I will show you!!
But first, I want to show you my tips on how to save money. These tips are if you are doing clothes shopping. I will do another tip list of shopping for other things later on. So, I use all of these tips, and I dont really spend a lot of money (a lot of my money goes to food!)

Tip #1
>Wear lots of layers or difficult clothes to get out of.
I know for me, going into fitting rooms and taking off every bit of clothing to try on one pair of pants or a new shirt or dress, is irritating. If I wear a lot of clothes and I see a shirt that I like, i think 'Is it worth getting out of all this, just for one shirt!?' and then I put it back on the shelf/rack.

Tip #2
>Set a money limit you can spend on clothes, and have it in cash. Not card! 
Say $25 and you cant go over. Or less or more, whatever works best for your budget (I usually say $20 for clothes and $30 for thrift shopping or art supplies). It is always better to have it in cash. Psychologically, if you can see the money, the less you will spend it. People see card as an inifinite amount of money, and having it in cash means you know how much you have and you know that it is all there! I had to buy cheap business shirts for my boyfriend once, and I had $50 to spend. I managed to get 4 business shirts, a casual shirt, 2 ties and a shopping bag for $50.15 (15 cents only because the bag was 15 cents). I was happy with that!

Tip #3
>Dont go higher than a basket! 
Dont go for a shopping trolley (this includes wheely baskets!) Stay either holding everything by hand, or with a basket. If you have that limit, there is only so much you can carry, and it equals a smaller amount of things bought!

Tip #4
>Review everything you have before you pay
Before you go to the register, go through your basket and ask yourself if you really need it, if it has as least 3 outfits it works with, and how often you think you will wear the item. I bought these awesome pair of boots at a thrift store last year. I havent worn them, only because I havent got anything to wear with them, I found myself looking at buying clothes just to go with a cheap pair of shoes. Always check to see if it will work with your wardrobe!!! At this stage, I also go through and add up all the prices with the calculator on my phone. If it goes over my Tip #2 budget, I put something back, or find a cheaper option.

Tip #5
>Stick with your own style!
I went shopping the other day, and saw a lot of clothes that I would probably like, I then looked around and saw everyone else wearing the same thing. I realised I liked the clothes, only because it seemed to be following the trend, and the 'cool' thing to wear. I immediately put down everything I had picked up. If you like following trends, and always buying everything when it becomes cool, certainly go buy it! But that isnt for me, if I wouldnt wear it when i am by myself, i wont buy it. Simple!!


Right, well, there are some of my tips on how to not buy so many clothes, I may do a second part to the clothes, but I will definitelty be doing one for food and entertainment and things like that, but for now, this is it!!
Hope you enjoyed reading, and I hope it helped someone somewhere!!