Lately I’ve not been able to find ample time to focus on painting. Been so busy with housework that my mind is not quite “there”, and I would like to go back to creating cute pieces soon. Instead, I’ve been doing more sketchbook work or journaling through testing or trying out new art supplies and randomly developing something creative out of it. Perhaps that’s not a bad thing as we all need a break from time to time, and it’s always good to pace ourselves and let our creative juices take its course. I’ve been working on this for a few days and finally think am ready to call it complete.
That Colour Technique Workshop I attended last Wednesday took place at an art supplies shop in Utrecht called Swaak. With an abundance of supplies and the myriad of colours displayed, it was like entering a candy store! Attendees from the workshop were entitled to a generous 20% discount so I thought why not take the opportunity and stock up? Among the items I helped myself to was a bunch of Golden Fluid Acrylics Paint which seems to be popular among mixed media artists. They are more fluid than the acrylic paints you get in the tubes but are more pigmented than acrylic inks. When I got home I grabbed my sketchbook and squeezed the colours away and brushed them around. No water or medium like matt or gel needed.
Colours used were Magenta, Cobalt Blue, Permanent Green and Hansa Yellow Light. I quite like their fluidity. And it’s called Fluid Acrylics for a reason. And yes it’s quite well- pigmented so still manages to maintain intensity and not appear watered down. Next I just layered away with some acrylic paints (Dina Wakley,’s range) and inks (Daler Rodney’s and Royal Talens) to get a comparative feel of them and seeing how well they work together. And just to add some flavor to the painting I scribbled some squiggles in using my usual colourful set of Cray-Pas oil pastels. But hmmm what next? I decided to sleep over it and continue with this when I was ready to go back to it.
I then had the idea to add some purple flowers and buds and add some light pink ones too. For the purple I used Dylusions paint in Crushed Grape and for the light pink went for Royal Talens Amsterdam acrylics in Light Rose. I soon noticed how much more opaque Dylusions paints appear compared to Royal Talens. Both are great for their respective uses. For example Royal Talens, especially when combined with matt or gloss media, work well for a more transparent appearance in mixed media work when wanting the layers below to show through.
To complete the painting, I stamped some tiny cute flower patterns in random areas in the background using Distress Inks. I also doodled in the details with a variety of inks. Outlined the pink buds with some iridescent pink India Ink (Dr Ph Martin’s) and added dots, spirals and circles on the flowers and buds using Uni Posca pens. For the first time, I also used Dylusions paint pens. I have to admit that whilst I love the paints and ink sprays by this brand, the pens are a bit of a let down. Quality isn’t that great and when used for adding details like on flowers, the colours don’t pop out. So I switched back to Uni Posca pens instead. Now I can safely say it’s all complete!
It’s almost October and this is the least autumnal-looking painting but then again I do find myself wanting to use vivid colours. I suppose I need some energy boost given the increasingly shorter days and balmy weather. Well painting this certainly gave me an uplift, and I think you’ll be finding more of my work using bright shades. Hope I cam cheer you all up too!
My Kawaii Quarter 