This weekend I had to give watching and photographing (and drawing) for the Polo Match in Zeeland, NL a miss. Unfortunately I’ve been suffering from a bad back which is preventing me from sitting too long and that includes the two-hour plus car ride to the venue. So I thought it best to stay home and rest. But being a little bored and restless, I was itching to do some painting! And so I came up with another polo theme, this time doing something cute and silly as usual.
At first I pencil sketched on a piece of plain paper an idea. I came up with a bunny playing polo just to be imaginative and “surreal”. I then took a piece of deli paper and as it’s as transparent as tracing paper, I began tracing the outlines with aquarelle coloured pencils (I like the set by Bruynzeel) then filled them in with the pencils and aquarelle crayons (30 Neocolor II by Caran D’Ache). With a small brush dipped in Matte Medium, I spread the colours out so the pigments will remain intact.
I then got some Mixed Medium Paper (I recommend 300 gsm by Canson) and scribbled some circles with two shades of orange oil pastels. This was followed by spreading two shades of yellow acrylic paint with an old credit card, then some squiggles in blue oil pastel and finally a few drops of yellow ink on top for some added vividness. I let it dry and meanwhile cut out the shape of the horse and bunny from the deli painting I made earlier.
Once dry and once happy with the cut out shape of the bunny on horse, I glued the cut-out onto the painted paper with Matte Medium and put some weight on top like books to let it all dry flat. I started painting the final layer once ready in Permanent Green Light and Yellowish Green, both by Royal Talens, blending it with some white in some areas. The two corners were in Yellowish Green and Yellow Lemon. All these were mixed with Gloss Medium.
I also thought to experiment with some acrylic mediums too. So I spread some coarse moulding paste as well as some glass beads in random areas for the sandy texture. For the pony’s mane I used some modelling paste.
Finished the painting with some felt tipped ink for the eyes and “bunny’s” hair. And also went over some bits on the horse and “bunny” again with the aquarelle pencils. I quite like the translucent look made possible by the deli paper. Gives a light appearance and despite the translucency, the subjects do pop out from the background. I totally recommend this method. I use deli paper a lot for drawing faces too for the same reason. Give it a try!
My Kawaii Quarter 