Winter is approaching, and the bunnies have disappeared into hibernation! Where can they be hiding? Underground most likely. I miss seeing them! Bunnies feature quite a lot in my paintings because I love them so much. They’re so cute! And so I’ll continue painting bunnies even when they’re in hiding. Here I made a kawaii mixed media piece featuring lots of them. A fantasy painting imagining autumn bunnies.
Ink and Oil Pastel Background
I used this idea in one of my previous paintings Hidden Bunnies. First I doodled in some bunny face shapes with Talens oil pastels using three different shades of blues. Paper used was a page from Strathmore Mixed Media sketchbook. Then I spritzed some Dylusions Ink Spray in a variety of orange shades like Tangerine Dreams and Squeezed Orange as well as adding yellow Lemon Zest to brighten it up and some Mica Spray for some shimmer. This was all sealed with some finishing spray to minimise smudging when painted on top. Once dry, I added some bubble wrap imprints with some fluorescent red paint.
Start Layering
First thing that came to mind was painting the same bunny shapes on top in green. This time though I coloured them in too. I used Dylusions paints for this using two different greens, Polished Jade and Squeezed Lime. For a transparent and glossy finish, I mixed them with some Gloss Medium by Liquidex. I initially considered a third shade of green but thought that would make the green too overpowering. How about some purple then as a triad colour scheme? I was reluctant to go for painting in purple and instead went for some collage. Having found some scrap origami paper suitable for this piece, I set about cutting some bunny shapes and gluing them on with the gloss medium. So far so good and cute!
More Bunny Layers
I was getting very enthusiastic about the bunnies! Over these green-painted and purple origami bunnies, I doodled more with my Molotow acrylic markers in white and fluorescent yellow. Some more bunnies were further painted this time with fluorescent red mixed again with gloss medium. Notice how transparent these painted shapes are, still letting the previous layers show through. So pretty!
Yet Another Bunny Layer
Almost done! I felt that a bit more could be done although I didn’t want to make it too overdone. Perhaps another go with gluing on bunny shapes? Reluctant to add colour, I opted for something neutral. How about using some newspaper this time? I thought one in Japanese-language would add some interesting flair as it always does. The only unfortunate thing is that when gloss medium was used as the glue, the orange from the ink spray below seeped through. Where that happened, I tapped on some white gesso on top or repainted the affected area. Problem solved! I finally made some finishing touches with some bubble wrap imprints using fluorescent orange paint by Ara. And now I think I can consider this painting done!
Another kawaii abstract piece! What made this experience interesting was coming up with different ways to add the bunnies: oil pastels, paint, markers and collage in origami paper and newspaper. Just thinking of the next step made it all the more exciting and intriguing. So much fun experimenting again and creating something sweet as this!
My Kawaii Quarter 