Sunday, July 20, 2014

The Digital Dozen does Countries & Cultures - Day 5: Tuscany Landscape Nail Art

Nothing to Disclose

Whew! I may be slightly late, but I've finally finished another challenge week with my favorite nail ladies of the Digital Dozen! I always forget just how challenging it really is to come up with 5 manis inspired by one theme. This countries and cultures week was tough but I really love what I managed to come up with this week :)

For the final day, I've got a mani inspired by the beautiful Tuscany landscape of Italy! I've had a deep seated love of Italy for as long as I can remember. My grandmother's aunt (my great aunt?) went to Italy when she was in college way back when on a foreign exchange program, and, as these things go, she met an Italian street artist, fell in love, and has been there ever since! I've visited them twice over the years and I have such fond memories of being there!


Coincidentally, my lazy Saturday began with watching Under the Tuscan Sun and it ended up inspiring me for the last day of this theme. I started researching images of Tuscany and came across this stunning photo of a Tuscan Villa.

I was pretty intimidated by recreating the aerial perspective (a term I recently learned from my favorite geeky lady, Kirsten of Geeky Owl!) in this photo, but if you've been following the other ladies this week, you might recall that Hannah did some FANTASTIC Grand Canyon nails that featured a similar effect...so I knew it was doable!


I just love how these turned out. I almost didn't add the little villa because I loved the look of the rolling hills in the backdrop so much...but, Tuscany wouldn't be complete without Cypress tree lined drives and gorgeous villas!

I started with a base of OPI's Don't Bossa Nova Me Around (which I seriously have zero clue how I have acquired because I never actually purchased this polish...me=stumped!) and used acrylic paints to create the backdrop hills. I started with the deep burgundy at the top and went with lighter and lighter shades of purple down my nails. As the hills got closer, I changed the color up and used greens and yellows to show them in the middle ground. The villa and driveway was a bit tricky but hopefully it looks like what it's supposed to be ;)


I hope everyone enjoyed the manis this week! I know I forgot just how much I love doing these challenges and I can't wait for next month! Be sure to check out the inlinkz below to see what everyone else has created for their final day :)

Happy Polishing!