Big Hair Day

I was in the mood to do something different again, possibly influenced by mixed media artists painting dreamy girls, i.e. Jane Davenport (whimsical girls) or Suzi Blu. Being used to drawing my girls in Chibi style (short, pudgy and big head), I thought I’d give it a shot myself! After a brief design on paper, I proceeded in spraying the background with yellow ink whilst masking the center with a smaller piece of paper. Then I randomly added some drops of Ecoline ink and spreading the colours with a brush and also stamped in some flower patterns.

I proceeded painting the girl with acrylic paint. For the hair, I used various shades of brown and added streaks of red to give it some life. The headband in Funky Fuschia using Dylusions paints. Squeezed Orange also from Dylusions paint was used in the background which blended in really with the yellow ink. For the dress, I didn’t want to lose the blue so I brushed a layer of silver sheer paint over it. But also added some turquoise blue for the sleeves.

However, when I wanted to add some stamped pink flowers on the dress, the ink unfortunately smudged. I rectified it by adding a layer of white gesso on it, adding drops of blue ink it again instead of painting over it. Where there were obvious smudges, I glued some flower-shaped collages from origami paper on top. For some added cuteness I even got hold of one with Hello Kitty on it! I proceeded in adding some origami paper collages on the hair and drawing in the eyes. Compared to the other “girly” artists, I like to make the faces look more manga-like. No nose, no mouth, just a pair of huge shiny eyes.

Now I was somewhat unhappy with the painting. So I left it for a few hours, ate dinner and came back to it. The hair needed more volume and life so I added streaks of yellow ochre and more carmine red with paints and some copper with felt markers. Then took some gel pastel-coloured pens in blue and pink and doodled in some details. Stamped on more flower shapes on the dress but carefully this time. And stamped some green flowers on the background. The next morning (today), I glued some sequins on the dress to finish the painting off. Now am happy!

I have to admit I was not sure how this painting would turn out. Combining pretty and elegant with kawaii and cute is quite a challenge as you’re trying to strike a balance between sophisticated adult and innocent child-like looks. Nevertheless I hope I was able to achieve it somehow. I should like to work more on this in future. It was certainly an exciting experience and it was certainly worth the challenge!