When I made this painting two days ago, I was also messing around with no particular purpose. It then turned out to be another intuitive abstract piece, something I don’t really get to do often. Upon finishing it, I really had no idea how I should interpret it. The background is warm, even a bit “hot” with cool shades of blue painted on top of it. Like it was fire and water. Perhaps a symbolism of putting the hot summer behind us and moving onto the cold winter months. Or even my subconscious empathy towards the forest fires hitting Australia and California and awareness of global warming.
Hot Red Background
This time, I went for a larger paper, an A3 size from Marabu Mixed Media sketch pad. The paper is quite porous and so I coated it with some white gesso mixed with my new bottle of Fluorescent Red watercolour paints by Sargent Art. Once dry, I began adding some red acrylic ink (Fluorescent Red by Daler Rowney and Cardium Red by Sennelier) and a bit of Neon Red acrylic paint by Ara for some thickness. They were spread about randomly using fingers and imprints made using bubble wrap. Then I glued on some torn bits of Japanese-language newspaper for fun!
Adding Ink
Ecoline inks in yellow (201 and 205) were then splattered about from their droppers, spread again with finger. I alternated between the red acrylics and yellow inks till I decided to add some leaf-vein patterns with a rubber stamp. Here, Distress Oxide in Worn Lipstick and Spiced Marmalade were used to introduce some dimension to the painting. I also incorporated some bubble wrap imprints with those stamp inks. Layers were just added using these inks and paints.
Uncertainty
At this point, I was really not sure what to do next. My aim, however, was to create another negative space painting using this chaotic background of bright warm colours with newspaper bits. I set about drawing round shapes about, keeping some of the corners and edges intact. After tracing my patterns with Derwent’s Inktense watercolour in indigo blue, I set about filling the outside spaces in Dylusions paint in After Midnight, combining it with some Gloss Gel by Open Acrylic. It was at this point I was not sure if I really liked this idea. The blue was too dark and overwhelming, but I was not sure what other colours to replace it with.
Introducing Another Blue
Besides the colour being too intense, I felt the pattern looked too scarce. I didn’t of course want to add any more from that colour, and then it dawned on me. Why not introduce another kind of blue to play down the intensity? A strong blue but not dark. How about a strong bright blue that would blend in and enhance the coldness? I found a pot of Dylusions London Blue and began joining on some curvy shapes on some edges of the dark blue. I just continued doing so, being careful not to overdo it. Just do it bit by bit till I felt it was enough. And now I was happy!
I was not only happy but also amazed at how this painting progressed. It’s the beauty of intuitive art, where you just aimlessly continue to layer on and come up with something unexpected. Most of the time it’s about your state of mind and possibly what is subconsciously provoking it. In this case, it could be a range of things but I’m almost certain it is related to climate change, be it the actual metamorphosis of it or the effect it has on us.
My Kawaii Quarter 