Presenting my first fun painting I made at Tracy Verdugo’s Paint Mojo workshop here in Cambodia! You will recall in my last blog Inspiration and Impressions that we were to firstly familiarize ourselves by observing the abundant possibilities of textures, colours and patterns around us, take photos and incorporate those ideas in our work. That’s exactly what I did! And amazing how our creative juices just flow.
We mainly use acrylic ink in our paintings but we can dilute them with water. I also mastered the skill of drawing directly with the dropper rather than a brush or nib. After having designed my background with a myriad of pinks and spreading them around with my finger, I chose a meditating Buddha to draw with my dropper which comes out thick and strong. I drew two of them for fun sitting side by side each other with a flower in between. Of course there is only one Buddha but I wanted to duplicate them in my drawing as a double blessing!
A series of layering with more ink and collages ensued. The collages are from patterned paper napkins and used masking tape! For another project, we used some masking tape and painted over them before removing them. I figured they could be of some use instead of throwing away. Hence I took the initiative to recycle them!
Tracy introduced us to a technique in which she firstly draws a shape or symbol with ink and dropper. Whilst the ink is wet, she spreads it gently outwards with a flat brush dipped in water. It provides some negative space for the shapes and gives an interestingly diffused effect. I also in the past steered clear of dark colours and only went for bright vivid colours or pastel shades, Here, I discovered the beauty of Antelope Brown, Payne’s Grey and even some Navy Blue! It’s always good to add some contrast as accents. After layers and layers of paint, ink and collages, I decided I was happy with it:
What fun it was to work on this piece! The workshop provides me with more inspiration as well as more insights into different techniques and even colours! Furthermore, it gives me the confidence to try new things and take the plunge when going for the next level in my painting. Maybe you’ll regret it, but then again you can always work over it and recreate. This painting was also a bit of a trial and error, but with this “yea what the heck” thinking, I built up confidence and am no longer stuck in my comfort zone. Can’t wait for the next session and to share my experience!
My Kawaii Quarter 