Idiosyncrasies & Quirks

Idiosyncrasy: \ˌi-dē-ə-ˈsiŋ-krə-sē\ noun - a: a peculiarity of constitution or temperament : an individualizing characteristic or quality b: characteristic peculiarity (as of temperament)

Quirk: \ˈkwərk\ noun - a: an abrupt twist or curve b: a peculiar trait

What are yours? Do you have a lot of quirks? Are you like me and need to ask others 'what are my quirks?' I'm sure people will tell you, in fact, I think my family was suspiciously overeager to tell mine. lol My family told me many, including that I pick my lip when I think, I have to unpack in a hotel no matter how long we're staying, and I like Chipotle (not sure that's a quirk, but the kids say so.)

This week's Creative Therapy challenge is: Create art around one of your quirks/idiosyncrasies. Remember, you can participate in the challenges too. There is a random prize given out EVERY WEEK. Kick start your art and come play along!

After I looked up what 'idiosyncrasies' and 'quirks' meant (so I could be clear), I explained to my children and asked them mine.
The very first thing they both said was 'you make lots of faces.'
I said 'What?'
'Like that!' they laughed.
Okay, so I do. I'm an expressive person. I use my eyes, mouth and gesturing hands to convey what I'm saying. I don't do it on purpose, its just how I'm built. My teen says I can change my persona just by making a new face. I guess I'm creating myself over and over again. I see some of the same expressions in my mother and now my littlest daughter is becoming a carbon copy of me. Both my kids and I are big eyerollers, grimacers (is that a word) and exaggerated shock face showers. It's just how we roll.
I wouldn't want to be any other way.

Techniques: My favorite little trick on this piece I learned from Corey Moortgat's book 'The Art of Personal Imagery'. I swipe painted the background aqua, around my head. Let it dry. Then I randomly dry brushed olive green over that paint. Then I took a big paintbrush, dipped in water and flicked it onto the paint. I waited until the paint was dry and then wiped off the water, removing the top layer of paint where the drops were, revealing the bottom color. Love that.