There is Hope

Whilst moving my art studio to the upstairs room, I misplaced this button. Originally a cut-out from a Tokidoki product, it is a home-made resin button with a magnet in the back I had gotten on Etsy with four other buttons. Unfortunately the magnet snapped off so it sat on my desk for years looking cute.

Let’s Draw About It!

When I misplaced it, I thought I had lost it forever. Did I throw it away by mistake? I couldn’t have, so what did I do with it? I even texted my boyfriend expressing my demise. “It’ll turn up”, he consoled me. I know, it’s not such a big thing or so important but it meant a lot to me. Accepting the loss for now, I tried my luck at looking in the dish by my main door where I keep my keys. Just an outside chance. And sure enough, it was there! I was so elated. “I’ll never let go of you,” I assured my button, holding it tightly. It now sits back at my desk, still looking cute. So why not draw about it.

Colouring It All In

I used Faber-Castell markers (Pitt Artists Pens) for the outlining. Then filled it in with acrylic paint. Amsterdam Acrylics for the flesh-coloured “face” by mixing shades. And Rose Quartz and Bubblegum Pink for the pink shades and Lemon Zest for the yellow, all by Dylusions. I initially made the background green wasn’t happy with it. I was hoping for a Christmassy theme but I realised that the leaves were going to be green too, though darker, which would give the painting a green overkill. So I covered the background with a layer of white gesso and decided to continue further.

That’s Better!

I decided to make the background grey instead and combined Dylusions Slate Grey with some titanium white for a more marbly effect. For the blue background in the circle, I brushed on some Ecoline ink for a more transparent effect to emulate the glassy resin. I added some finishing touches on the pink petals by stamping in some bubble-wrap patterns with fuchsia Staz-on ink .

About Hope

The colour scheme of my piece of course looks quite different from the original button. Whilst getting inspiration from another piece, I prefer to make my version and speak my mind. I firstly felt I could add some brighter colours here. And in this case, I was expressing the contrast between my wishful thinking of bright sunny days with blooming flowers and the reality of grey winter days of the present. I guess the piece started off by me finding my precious button and then it developed into painting about looking at the brighter side of things. So when in despair, I will look at the button or this painting to remind myself there’s hope in life.