Here is a painting I made a few months ago whilst following Tracy Verdugo’s Story Painting classes: Chapter Two Lesson 3. In this particular piece, we bring the characters from the previous lessons on a journey. I myself decided to choose the story about a pair of mice putting lipstick on aboard a ship, as seen in Mice with Lipstick. And this time developing it into a sailboat featuring… Hello Kitty!
Childhood Dream
When I was a very little girl I had a dream going through a book featuring little mice on a cruise ship. And they were putting lipstick on! I must have been 4 or 5 but remember it like it was yesterday. That was inspired by a picture book by Richard Scarry featuring lots of cute animals. And I really liked the mouse who was known as Squeaky. In one of the chapters of one book were lots of little mice traveling as passengers on a cruise ship. But where does the lipstick come in? It’s most likely something subliminal; watching my mother put make-up on every morning and carefully applying her lipstick! Weird huh. But it’s amazing how far back I remember this dream so vividly. Now was the chance to paint about this! So let’s start with a pencil sketch with a blue aquarelle pencil…
The Background
First we begin with some random mark-making with stamps and bubble wrap using Payne’s Grey and Antelope Brown acrylic ink. The a layer of blue was painted on in Indigo and Marine Blue. In some areas, drops of isopropyl alcohol were added to create a bubbly appearance.
Kawaii Characters
Then it was time to paint the rest! Again Payne’s Grey and Antelope Brown were used for the mice with fine details drawn in with gel pens. I then painted the boat with Quinacridone Pink along with a bit of titanium white mixed in the blue for the inside of the boat. Next the sail was filled in with iridescent white before proceeding to paint Hello Kitty with some gel pens. The evening mood was created by brushing on a coat of Indigo ink then once dry, the moon was added with white gel pen.
A Little Change
As much as I love the classic version of Hello Kitty in her red ribbon and blue overalls, I felt the colors didn’t really go with the painting. I then covered the colours with some light pink to match the sailboat. And now it goes more in line with the cuteness. Once dry, I glazed over the sails area with a thin coat of titanium white ink to play down the harsh appearance. The aim was to create a soft misty atmosphere. And here we are now!
So another Hello Kitty art! It’s always fun to incorporate her in my artwork from time to time given I am a huge fan and collector of her stuff. As such I felt it would be sweet to include her in the story with the mice putting lipstick on. The ultimate kawaii story based on a childhood dream and my favorite character!
My Kawaii Quarter 