This one was sort of an experiment: “what can I do with a couple of dotting tools?”  See, with flowers, the instinct is to go to brushes — they’re what flow and dance and drag the paint around like a petal.  But maybe you can do the same with a dotting tool, just dropping some paint and then pulling it around? …or not.  I don’t know, the OCD freak in me can only see what’s not perfect, but then again you have to have your face right up on it to tell; from a glance, it looks just fine.

I started with a two coat base of OPI Danke-Shiny Red — if this color isn’t perfectly dialed for the holidays I don’t know what is; it’s got that metallic red of a ribbon on a present and I’m definitely into it.  Of course that made thinking of anything OTHER than the holidays a little tricky once it popped into my brain, so I sat down with some acrylic paints and dotting tools to see what came of it, taking inspiration from some lovely yellow and orange gerber daisies sitting in my living room.  Like I said, the tools didn’t execute as cleanly as I might have liked (dropping some paint, pulling it toward the center of the flower, repeating endlessly because I was never quite happy with the size/shape of the petals), but I do like the effect overall.

Also, just had to share this one (it’s relevant to my current interests!):