Today I would like to share a painting I did whilst following a tutorial by Andrea Gomoll, a mixed media artist from Germany. The series of these tutorials comprise part of a charity-contributing Art Bundle in which one pays $99 and can choose more than 100 courses to follow at no extra cost. When you redeem your coupons within 6 months, the courses are for life. A great deal considering each course averages about $50. One of these was a series of classes by Andrea, among them called Autumn Winds Girl.
From Autumn Girl to Summer Girl…
Why she chose to tutor an autumn-themed painting during the Spring/Summer, I have no idea. Nevertheless, I found painting methods quite useful to learn, and I was also in the mood to paint Little One in a whimsical style! What appealed to me about this lesson was picking up sound water-colouring tips and she also introduces Pan Pastels! I never thought about using such pastels in mixed media so was curious. She presents her lessons quite methodically, divided into four 40-minute or so clippings. Being late May, though, I preferred to paint a warmer theme and decided to tweak it to suit the season more!
Below: My Spring Breeze Girl
Pencil Sketch
We start out with sketching lightly with graphite pencil. Andrea recommended Cansons 300 gsm watercolour paper in A3 size so I went and purchased that on Amazon. I’ve already got the mixed media paper and been happy with it so wanted to try the watercolour version, especially as my existing watercolor papers come only in A4 size. Canson’s mixed media paper comes with a rough texture whilst the watercolour version is smooth. Whilst Andrea drew her girl wearing a woolen scarf and hat against a background of autumn trees, I made my Little One wearing a blue dress with a string of pearls against a bunch of pretty flowers!
Time to Paint!
Although Andrea starts with the face and then the rest of the girl before going for the background, I did the reverse. I prefer to start with the background first. Much of this painting involves watercolours but a variety of materials were used.
- I began by paintng the green bit using Dr Ph Martin’s Hydrus liquid watercolour in Viridian Green then Sap Green. The flowers were then coloured in violet and yellow with Winsor & Newton watercolour pans.
- Once I finished the background, I painted Little One’s face using Caran d’ache’s Neocolor II water soluble crayons in salmon.
- Following that, I painted the hair with a mixture of aquarelle pencils (Caran d’ache Prismalo) and Neocolor II in a variety of browns.
- The same colours were used for the eyes as well.
- Then for the dress, I chose a pretty blue shade from the Winsor & Newton palette. The flower on Little One’s hair was painted in a vibrant magenta shade also from Winsor & Newton
- The pearls were painted in with an iridescent white watercolor by Kuretake Gansai Tanbi.
💡 Tip! 💡
Andrea gave a good tip about painting in watercolours. First apply the paint, water soluble pastel or aquarelle pencil on the outline or edges of the subject. Then with a wet brush of squeeze pen, spread the color outwards then push it back in towards the dark area, ie. the edges. That ensures a gradation of the color!
Pan Pastels & Beyond
At first, I was not sure what to make out of the Pan Pastels. They were mainly used for contouring and shading with. In terms of colours, it doesn’t look as if they made much difference had I stuck to watercolours instead. I have to admit that they do give a velvety finish, though not very visible in the photographs. Furthermore, I may need to have been more heavy handed with them but I hesitated. Next time I combine the two, I ought to keep that in mind…
I added the finishing touches with a white Uni Posca pens by doodling in some flowers and here we are! Don’t you think Little One looks simply kawaii and adorable in her pretty blue dress and pearls? And the background suits her too!
Very pleased with this painting, and I also had a lot of fun with it! From this tutorial, I also picked up some useful tips for techniques like how to paint more effectively with watercolour. And who would have thought about combining watercolour with Pan Pastels! I would definitely like to have another go at this method again. Perhaps try the original autumn-themed version the next time. I’m sure Little One will look just as cute in her woolen scarf and hat!
More about Andrea Gomoll can be found here:
My Kawaii Quarter 