Viking Girl

Little One is dressed up again! And what have we here? A pair of reindeer horns along with a shiny crown on her head. And with a red robe she’s got some huge beaded necklace for some added effect. She still looks sweet doesn’t she? The reindeer horns and the large necklace somewhat reminded me of Vikings, although I’m not entirely sure if that’s an accurate description of them.  So Viking Girl it is!  This I painted whilst following the next lesson of Juliette Crane’s Serendipity I classes, “Keeping it Simple”. For a change, this lesson is less intensive compared to her other sessions but also fun as we shall see…

Starting Off

Watercolors are used this time, and interestingly we use Bristol Paper. I have always been doubtful about this combination since I’ve been under the impression that since this type of paper is especially coated, it wouldn’t absorb paint and hence puddles would form, but was I wrong! The paint indeed doesn’t absorb like watercolor paper would but still workable and depending on what you want to achieve, gives an even better result. As the colors stay on the surface, they come out more vibrant and evenly spread. Another plus is that you can add layers on top of each other with minimal interference with those below. Here, I went for A3 Canson’s watercolor paper (200 gsm) and started with a watercolor pan by Winsor & Newton.

Emergence of Little One

And now I started sketching my subject, first starting with a graphite pencil sketch to get the composition right. A black marking pencil was then used to trace over the outline. Then I went for some brightly colored watersoluble oil pastels by Art Philosophy (available on Amazon) and continued coloring around Little One. So far so cute, and wait till you see those big blue eyes!

Further Painting

I continued painting the dress red and the hair brown, adding the eyelashes with the marking pencil. The whites of the eyes were then filled in with white Uni Posca pen. And now the crown and the necklace: I wanted to make them special and get them sparkly but this time prefered to stick to watercolors rather than resort to glitter glue. Finetec pearlescent colors in white was a great choice. Now that’s looking pretty!

Finishing Touches

I was then getting adventurous and in the mood to experiment with texture and came up with the idea of dabbing on some of Daniel Smith’s Watercolor Ground in pearlescent white on the necklace. This medium is like gesso but used more for watercolors. Just for fun, I thought to make the necklace appear chunkier, and looks like it worked rather well! Some jewels on the crown were then doodled in with some glittery red gel pen. Some small white gel pen dots in the background, and I was good to go!

Thoroughly enjoyed this quick painting session! It’s quite a change from what I’m accustomed to, particularly considering it is Juliette Crane’s classes where her sessions are rather intensive and long. Furthermore, I am glad to have discovered a different way to paint with watercolor and how well it works with Bristol Paper. Always wonderful to explore something new! I shall definitely be combining them again, especially as I’m loving this painting of Little One dressed as Viking Girl!

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