Artwork #2 An improvement

Hi everyone! Further to my first artistic post a few days where I tried to create a string pull flower and failed miserable, I had another go again yesterday. This time, I got myself some proper materials, a few tubes of acrylic paint, a bottle of white glue, and a roll of string.
前幾天第一次學拉繩子花油畫，結果效果一塌糊塗，很搞笑。之後我去買了亞克力顏料和白樹膠，畢竟工欲善其事，必先利其器。

I'm not going to invest into any canvas yet, as one, I haven't had time to go to the artist shop, and two, I'm still learning the technique, so plain white paper will do for the time being. Ok, let's see how I get on this time. I'm just going to use two colours today. Red and yellow. (sorry about the photo but I'm posting this from my mobile!)
昨天我又嘗試玩繩子拉花，今次用了紅黃兩種色。顏料要加入白樹膠讓它稀釋才好用。經過上次的試驗，這次我學會了如何把繩子擺得好一點，和拉繩子時不要壓得太大力。結果出來的效果比上次好得多。可能是因為有顏色的關係，而不只是一 大片黑墨水。當然這張作品還有很多可以改善的地方，但我已很開心見到有進步。而且這次我又多了點心得，下次可以繼續改善。

The white glue is to make the paint thinner and more manageable. You can use water as well, but I think that changes the pigment and the colour. I've mixed equal amounts of paint and glue together because that's what they said on YouTube. This is what it looks like. (Note 1)

Getting the paint onto the string was quite a messy job. I dipped the string into the yellow paint first, placed it onto the paper, and then dabbled the red paint randomly onto the string. I have some plastic straws at home which I bought ages ago but I've stopped using them now for ethical reasons. Rather than throw them away, they will come in good use now (Note 2).

Last time I made a mistake of putting too much pressure on the top of the paper when I pulled the string down. So this time I knew better. I could feel the string sliding down a lot more smoother (Note 3). Now for the reveal.....

So what do you think? Personally I'm really pleased as there's a remarkable improvement from my first failed attempt. I think this is mainly due to the fact it's got duo colour as opposed to a blob of black ink. And secondly you can see some colour streaks that make up flower. The bottom part is still a blob of paint, maybe I was a bit heavy handed there (Note 4). But overall, I'm still very happy with it.

I still had a bit of paint left over, and decided to do a second pull. This one looks like a chair, a rather pretty one if I may say. The bottom part isn't so smudgy here, so I think my theory of being too heaving handed on the first one was correct.

This time, I have learnt the following:
1 the paint can still be a bit thinner, next time I may add a a couple drops of water to it
2 I cut the straws in half and used that as a stirrer. The plastic was quite flimsy and difficult to handle the heavier paint. I might double up two halves of a straw next time so it's stronger
3 The center part of the images are lacking definition, maybe I need to exert a tad more pressure at that area
4 Need to learn how to apply the right amount of paint onto the string so I don't end up with a blob of paint on the paper.

I am really enjoying my new found hobby, especially since I can already see a bit of improvement in my work. Hopefully it will continue to improve.

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CONTEST TIME

In my last post, I ask you guys what you thought of my first failed artistic creation and to help me name it. I'm really glad that I've received so many entries so far. The contest will close on Saturday at post payout, so if you want to join in the fun and have a chance to share 20 Steem, check out my last post and post your entry there.
大家記得我上次失敗的創作嗎？我辦了小小的遊戲請大家為它命名，遊戲會在禮拜六結束，希望你也一起來玩喔!