So back to painting some animals again, and of course cats! This time, I wanted to try out my new set of watercolors by Kremer Pigmente from Germany. What makes them special is that they are handmade using natural pigment sources from minerals and plants, sort of the German version of Japan’s traditional watercolors. One of the set I was keen on trying out was my pearlescent range, and naturally black paper was a logical choice to see how effectively the colors popped out.
The Start
Royal Talens Rembrandt Black Water Colour Paper was used for this, a wonderfully thick 360gsm cellulose sheet. The paper comes in a pad of 10 sheets glued on all for sides to prevent the paper from curling whilst you paint. Now taking the sheets apart is a skill of its own, and you need a good palette knife to pry the pages apart. I had the bad experience in the past of ending up with torn edges and hence separated the pages before and not after finishing the painting. All I did was split the one sheet of paper by an inch instead of the entire side. So here I went about randomly doodling away, and the first that came to mind was a cat! Then I ended up painting two more but with different shades of gold for the head. And now the outfits followed by the clouds and flowers. I also integrated some other non-pearlescent colors from the Earth shades palettes. So far so cool. But I wasn’t happy with the background at all.
Fill in the Background
So what can I do? I then took the plunge and started filling in the black spaces as much as possible to create a colored background! Normally, I paint the background first before the subject but this was totally unplanned. But that’s fine too. I quite liked how it was turning out. The pearlescent blue sky was looking quite neon-like against the black, and the green turned to be a mysterious aura rather than just the intended ground of grass. Only the white cloud and yellow shirt were painted with the Earth palette rather than the pearlescent set, giving some variety to illustrate how they also pop out against the blacki.
Finishing Touches
As I further filled in the background, I also worked on shapes of the cats a bit more. I also brushed another layer of the watercolor on them but it didn’t look like it made too much difference. In fact it was unnecessary, as all it did was swish the wet puddle of paint around without adding much to the subjects. The pigments are actually so intense that one layer should suffice, and of course you can adjust the opacity with the amount of water on your brush. And now some finishing touches: Some Marabu’s glitter relief paint was scribbled on the clouds to add some texture. The cat’s faces were then drawn in with a small black Uni Posca marker. Finally, I doodled in some flowers and squiggles with a white Uni Posca marker to fill in the blank areas of the green. And now I think I’m done here!
Another cool black paper painting! Just because Spring is here doesn’t mean you need to set it aside and save it for the winter. The vivid pearlescent colors certainly proves you can still make stunning artwork to depict the more colorful months of the year. Though simple, my cats turned out not only kawaii but also so beautifully with all that shimmer and metallic edge. I must say the quality of the Kremer Pigmente watercolors are mighty impressive, as we gather from the results. Can’t wait to work with them again soon!
My Kawaii Quarter 