Some abstract work for a change now! And of course with a kawaii twist. It’s the first week of April, and despite being on the cooler side, flowers are blooming and the buds re-appearing with trees showing first signs of foliage. And thus, I was keen on playing around with various mediums and mark-making in various shapes and sizes and for a warm welcome to Spring, especially with Little One and Hello Kitty!
The Start
And so I began with a ghost print from a gelli plate I had used for a previous artwork! Added to that was some of the fluorescent yellow acrylic paint I rolled out from a brayer I had wanted to clean onto a page of Strathmore’s Visual Journal for Mixed Media. Not only is it because I do not like to waste excess paint, but it is also a challenge I enjoy to see what I can recreate from recycling!
Using Contrasts
I was hoping to use the round gelli plate ghost print as a sun but realised I should have placed it higher in the page. Not to worry, since this would be a chance for me to go for some intuitive creation with some tissue collage and acrylic ink. Just some random shapes and “symbols” here and there, using contrasts during each step, ie circles vs. angles, shapes vs. lines, dark vs. light, etc. So far so good!
More Layers
I then incorporated further on this painting, with color blocks and a few doodles here and there. Some stencil work was also introduced with acrylic paint and sponge roller, along with a few squares of old wrapping paper, as I thought the colorful dots were rather cute.
Finishing off
White spaces were being filled in as much as possible, although I didn’t mind leaving some areas untouched. At this point, I figured some flowers could be introduced, ie. the red one in form of negative space along with a bit of floral wrapping paper and some glittery blossoms. And seeing the weather has been unpredictable, how about some raindrops? Most cute of all though is doodling some Little One’s scattered around the painting with acrylic markers, along with a small Hello Kitty Sticker. And here is my kawaii abstract painting done!
And what fun that was! Just randomly playing around and experimenting with different possibilities is quite therapeutic as you can just let your mind drift and see what you come up with. It has been quite some time since making a painting like this, and now I realise how much I’ve missed. I hope to be able to do more like this in future, especially with some kawaii characters incorporated!
My Kawaii Quarter 