After weeks, if not months, of being couped up at home due to the COVID-19 crisis, we decided at the last minute to drive to our vacation home and hang out for the weekend. The Netherlands was never in a strict lockdown like other parts of Europe but we were nevertheless cautious, and I for one stayed home and only went out if necessary. Normally our vacation home is for short-term rent and doing well even during difficult times (it’s isolated). This weekend, though, we happened not to have any tenants so rented the place to ourselves!
Natural Elements in Digital Form
As we were travelling, I didn’t want to lug my entire art kit so tonight, I made a digital painting with my iPad of our starting adventure! The Procreate app gives quite a lot of options when it comes to effects. Based on that, I wanted to make a mixed media type piece incorporating layers. As illustrated below:
- Layer One (top left): Blue background and Clouds in white
- Layer Two (top right): Twisted Trees in greens and brown
- Layer Three (bottom left): Stone Wall in red and light grey
- Layer Four (bottom right and also below): Water in blues, and I added two boats
And now I was ready to add us. That was Layer Five in which I painted our faces with Fresco in skin colour, then the rest like the hair and outfits with watercolour so it still has the transparent effect with the layers below still visible. The final layer was the Gel Pen with which I drew in the eyes, enhanced the hair and doodled some the hearts in the background. A simple painting and yet somehow mysterious and even cute at the same time!
With the figures skewed and faces slightly tilted we also get a sort of whimsical effect. I was experimenting again and this time to see if we can get the mixed media layering method to work digitally, and I must say it worked quite well. Of course it’s never the same as the real thing without the dimensions, different finishes and textures but still the cuteness is there. It’s also been a while since doing some digital art. Great to go back to it again and should do more!
My Kawaii Quarter 