Another drama with online shopping. My stuff hasn’t arrived yet! Again the issue with the Dutch Customs holding my package for a few weeks. This time, though, I was charged import duties which I duly paid expecting it to be released immediately for delivery. But no… it has been over a week and it still hasn’t been released. 3 November duty was paid, 9 November the tracking tells me “Customs checking, delivery time unknown” and nothing since. Huh? The items are a series of heart-shaped AND Hello Kitty carved stone crystals not too expensive and certainly not a life or death situation but would be nice to have. Getting a bit anxious here! And so I thought a little art journal rant would help me vent my frustrations…
Marker Sketch
First lightly doodled on with graphite pencil on my Strathmore sketchbook on a two page spread, then traced over with my Faber Castell’s Pitt Artists Pen. These markers are India Ink derived and are hence water-resistant and permanent, meaning I can easily paint around and over them without the risk of ink bleeding or smudging. And now I’m really telling you how I feel: Frustrated and helpless. Worrying and hoping. Annoyed and “WTF!” All rolled into anxiety!
Start Painting
For the background, I went for acrylic inks in Yellow-Green and iridescent Jade green. Acrylic was chosen over watercolors since I planned on adding layers on top including some collages on top as well stickers and tape. Naturally, I didn’t want the risk of colors bleeding through. As you can see below, I initially went for some cute Sanrio sticky tape and glued on Hello Kitty’s face, which is actually a label from one of the clothing I had purchased ages ago and been keeping till the right moment. I began painting the hair and face with some water soluble oil pastels by Art Philosophy available on Amazon. Looking good so far!
Continuing…
The idea of Art Philosophy’s pastels worded very well and hence I continued with it for the characters (me). Scattered around the background came more little stickers, bits from memo paper and cut outs of teddy bears I made with a craft punch on an old wrapping paper. Amazing how little things like that come handy! Then I filled in the “anxiety” letters with fluorescent red Acryla gouache making sure the color was spread out evenly. Wow, look how it all pops out! Finally some glitter was introduced: squeezing out some light blue glue and transparent white gel in the captions. Both are by Rangers Stickles. And here we are now!
Although it won’t get my stuff to me any sooner, painting about my frustrations and anxiety helps me deal with my emotions better. It of course goes without saying that art is a great way form of expression and a healthy way to vent! I suppose I now just need to sit and wait patiently and see what happens to my stuff. Perhaps I ought to give the postal service a call in a few days and see what’s going on (although they’ll just tell me to wait). As for now, just sit tight and keep hoping…
My Kawaii Quarter 