Here is another piece I made using leftover paint! It’s always so much fun to challenge myself and see what I should do with it and what result I could come up with! This time, I’m giving Little One a little rest and went for simply-drawn animals. Being summertime and considering it’s been some time since I’ve drawn them, I thought of fish.
Two Blues
Whilst working on another painting, I rolled on some excess blue acrylic paint with a brayer onto my sketchbook (Strathmore’s Mixed Media). Another colour joined which was a more turquoise shade. I used a palette knife to spread it around.
More Blue
At this point, though, I wasn’t even thinking about drawing fish. Just wanted to make something blue out of this piece by adding one layer after another of ink and oil pastels. Perhaps throw in a bit of green but not too much. Inks used were acrylic ink (D&W or Amsterdam Acrylic), India Ink especially some iridescent ones (Dr. Ph Martins) and Ecoline Ink for some transparency.
Underwater Effect
And now it was all coming together. A variety of blues, turquoise and a hint of some green. How pretty it all looks together! Of course, the logical choice of theme would be underwater, like an aquarium. I just wanted a simple painting over it so as not to distract us from the background. So why not introduce some fish? With orange-coloured fish to complement the blue and green seaweed to create some harmony, since green is analogous to blue. Balance is the key! I got out my Faber Castell’s Gelatos for this, mixed with a bit of water, I love how these Gelatos give a transparent appearance, especially as I didn’t want to lose the patterns in the background. To enhance the outlines of the fishes and seaweed, I used some glitter glue!
Quite a simple piece actually with a rather chaotic background. Notice I didn’t even add eyes to the fishes or any fine details. Otherwise it gets too much to look at. What I wanted to focus on was the pretty patterns in the background. Gelatos are great to use, and I totally recommend them for a more transparent effect like this. You’ll be seeing more of that again soon!
My Kawaii Quarter 