The past few months kept me busy with preparing to move homes. It’s still an on-going task but I finally managed to find some spare time to resume another on-line class 30 Days of Grace with Alena Hennessy. Now I’m starting Day 16 Pen and Ink Love involving sketching flowers using well, pen and ink!
Painting the Flowers
Out in the back garden of our new house are a variety of different flowers in vivid colors. Among them are some violets scattered about below the roses. I love their colors, and so pretty are they that I decided to paint them! Alena suggests in her lessons India Ink and spreading the colours out with a wet brush. Another tip she gives is combining colours whilst wet and watch them merge together. And how beautifully did that turn out! For India Inks I recommend Dr. Ph Martin’s Bombay Ink which come in a range of stunning shades.
Collages in the Background
Alena added some pretty washi tapes in random places around the flowers. Unfortunately I don’t have any washi tapes handy but this gave me the opportunity to improvise again! All I did was dig through my box of scrap origami papers, cut out strips of them and stick them on with some rice glue. For the corners I found some leftovers I had previously used with craft punches. So far so good!
Finishing it Up
Following the collages we drew and doodle around the background with acrylic and markers. I firstly went for gold and fluorescent orange acrylic ink on the edges. Then I scribbled in some details with some Molotow markers and gel pens. Embellishments were further added using glitter glue and sequins. And now!
Not a painting as such but more a journal entry, this piece was quite interesting to work with. It’s more about observing the nature around you and appreciating the pretty things like flowers then embracing their beauty which is the point of this exercise. Now that autumn is approaching and the flowers will disappear for some time, creating this piece was indeed therapeutic and lets me look forward to when flowers bloom again next year.
For more on Alena Hennessy and her classes please click here.
My Kawaii Quarter 