Sunday, October 27, 2013

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 28: Inspired by a Flag

I'm mirroring what Meghan said in her post, inspired by a flag is the least inspiring of all the challenge themes. I really struggled with what to do for this. There are so many flags to choose from, but it felt wrong to choose some random country's flag that I had no association with. That narrowed down my choices substantially. California State flag or the US flag. I've lived in California my whole life and love it here. It's beautiful and has incredible variety wherever you go and I figured I couldn't not attempt the state flag of my state.

But holy bear, I did not think this was going to be so tricky! The Bear Flag, as our state flag is named, features, well a bear. A fairly realistic bear at that. And I don't do realism well...but hey! I gave it my best shot ;)
Credit
My "flag" is more of a pig-bear than a bear-bear. I really struggled with getting the head of the bear correct and sort of gave up after several attempts.
One thing I found really cool (though, it's probably not that cool, I'm just a weirdo...) is that the wiki page about the flag of California shows you the exact colors that are used in the flag, as well as the dimensions of al the features and exact number of tuffs in the grass there should be. It makes perfect sense for there to be standard for how you create a certain flag, but I haven't put much thought into until now.

I ended up trying to match my colors as best I could to those referenced as the official colors. The background is China Glaze's White on White and the red tips and star are Zoya's Livingston. I used Zoya's Hunter for the grass, though I wish I had gone with a more vibrant green instead. Finally, the bear is made up of Zoya's Flynn (light brown) and Codie (dark brown). 
What do you think of these? Do you have a flag that you feel passionate about? Side note, I purchased Out The Door top coat at Sally's today and I am really disappointed! I had heard it was somewhat comparable to Seche but it caused so much streaking on my nails! I'm so upset. Am I missing some trick on how to use it properly?? 

Happy Polishing :)