Yay! We found our dream house a few weeks ago but I kept it a secret until now. You see, I am quite superstitious and believe in getting jinxed if I tell all before the deal is done. Nothing is certain until we’ve signed on the dotted line! Just last week we paid our deposit on this beautiful house we are so excited about moving into. Coming from a big city myself, relocating into the absolute countryside may be quite daunting but to be honest I was longing for some peace and quiet, away from the crowds. I guess I’m getting too old for all the night entertainment and fast-pace lifestyle! And I’ve got so many exciting projects in mind, including learning to grow some herbs and veggies, reorganizing my extreme Hello Kitty collection and of course regaining more time dedicated to painting!
The Background
So today, I would like to share a kawaii painting I did about our new place, partially adopting some ideas from Tracy Verdugo. The only difference here is that instead of a whimsical animal or kawaii person, it’s a house! Here, I went for an A3 size Aquarelle paper (300 gsm) by Canson’s. I grabbed some silver oil pastel (Sakura Cray-Pas) and scribbled on a page from my sketchbook as below.
Acrylic ink, stenciling and collages were then layered on in various shapes and forms. Some of the inks were spread using a spray of water mixed with alcohol. I also drew little houses and clouds, whilst also gluing on paper napkins of tomatoes and plants. This is because I’m hoping to grow some tomatoes! Some cats were also stenciled in with full bodied acrylic, as I’m hoping to come across some cute neighbourhood cats.
Negative Space
I was now ready to paint my negative space. First I went for white, but thinking that was a bit dull, I went about and added some flowers, sunrays, a cute bunny and teddy bear. Still I wasn’t happy with it, and thus left it for a few days to think what I wanted to do with it.
Golden Opportunity
I thought the white definitely should be replaced with a colour. But what colour? I was not too sure. I considered lilac and blue and experimented with the lilac but wiped it off quickly (the beauty of acrylic inks) before it dried. After some pondering, I then had the idea of gold! A thin layer of Golden Fluid Acrylic in Bright Gold was brushed on with a bit of water to test it out, and when I was happy with it, I spread the colour on. And it worked! Afraid that the orange in the sun would be too close to the gold, I went over it with some fluorescent orange, then traced the sunrays with fluorescent pink to cool the colour down. A few doodles with white acrylic marker, and I was good to go!
And now I’m really pleased I went for gold! This is not a colour I normally go for a background. Also it’s not often that I get to paint buildings or houses and am glad to be able to do something different. Just wish I could find more time nowadays to sit down and paint at my own leisure, but our day will come soon. Meanwhile, I am happy to be able to finish this painting and do look forward to moving in the place in a few months!
My Kawaii Quarter 