Ok don’t laugh but I was initially intending to paint a pair of dogs wading in the sea. And why dogs, you may ask. Just last Friday we were over in Zeeland and came across a seal bobbing up and down in the middle of the sea, by the shore, Although I did “paint” one on my iPad using the Sketches app, I also wanted to paint one in real. But here is the twist. The Dutch word for seal is Zeehond which is literally translated into English as “sea dog”. And therefore dogs wading in the sea!
This was also the chance to experiment and combine various media especially for the background. I found myself randomly applying and layering with oil pastels, Ecoline inks, Daler Rowney’s acrylic ink, Dr. Ph. Martin’s Hydrus watercolors and Radiant Concentrated Watercolors. And a bit of Dina Wakeley’s acrylic paints and a few spritz of Dylusions ink spray. The clouds were made possible by stamping a bit of white gesso with kitchen paper.
Everything was fine until I started painting in the dogs. Here I used Dylusions paint in Slate Gray and for the shade, acrylic ink in Payne’s Grey. I was not too happy how they turned out, though, lamenting to myself they look more like mice than dogs. That said, I posted this photo on Facebook and received quite a lot of compliments and encouragement, even some saying they do actually look like dogs. And how cute they are.
So I guess not all is lost. One lady was so sweet commenting, “So cute. I certainly got the ‘frolic in the water’ thing”. So doggies or not, the lil cute creatures look like they’re having so much fun, indeed frolic in the water! The wonderful thing about painting is to recreate the unexpected, not to take myself to seriously and just have fun!
My Kawaii Quarter 