Mama and Baby Cow

Hoping to be back to normal life soon! After another weekend away and continuing hay fever attacks, I’ve had very little time to get creative, let alone write my blogs. Slowly easing into the routine, now that no further trips or disruptions are planned for the next month and I’m trying to keep my allergies under control. So the past Spring, I began noticing baby animals roaming about the Dutch countryside in which we reside: cows, sheep, ducklings and the occasional bunny too! How cute. Our neighbor behind us rears cows as a pastime, and I was awed by some of them marching across, proudly parading with their baby cows! And of course, I wanted to paint about it. This time, a collage art using Copic markers and acrylic paint!

Copic Marker Drawing

First a pair of drawings. Copic Ciao markers were used on Cansons The Wall paper specifically used for alcohol markers. The cows our neighbors have are tan/brown and hence I kept it as that. Just for fun and added cuteness, though, I decided to make my version of cute mama and baby cows standing upright and with blue huge eyes. And I thought the pacifier would definitely be a kawaii feature!

Background

Then on a empty page from my A3 Art Gecko Mixed Media Sketchbook, I set about preparing my background by firstly scribbling with some fluorescent yellow oil pastel whatever words came to mind (“Flowers and Baby Animals”) and further doodling away with some fluorescent pink. Flower stamps were then added followed by a wash of green acrylic inks (emerald green, permanent green and pearlescent green). Whilst waiting for it to all dry, I carefully cut out my two Copic marker drawings with a cutter (don’t forget to place a rubber board below it!) and once I was happy with their placements, glued them down with Mod Podge as the copic paper was rather thick.

Painting Away

Now I’m ready to add some layers onto my background, being careful not to let it spread onto my two cows! A variety of green Golden Fluid Acrylics were introduced here: Permanent Green, Green Gold, Titan Green Pale some of which were blended with Titan Buff (a bit of a cream off-white shade). As you can see, I left the top two corners untouched as I liked how that combined well with the rest. So far looking great!

Adding Embellishments

As much as I liked the results so far, I felt that the color blocks of green lacked unity. Hence some collaging. Found some bits of scrap origami paper which I had previously used for some craft punches. How convenient that they had flower patterns and flower-shaped cut outs as I did mention flowers whilst doodling on my background! A few more flowers were then craft-punched on the same paper and scattered around the painting. Ink-stamping some small pink flowers on the bottom further helped play down all the green as did the pink glittery crown. That crown was a last-minute decision and certainly goes well with the baby’s pink pacifier! Incorporating stenciled leaves on the left corner was also a great idea. Then a few dots and spots with a white gel pen, and I was good to go!

And what fun this was, seeing how far my imagination stretches. Combining Copic markers with acrylic painting on a mixed media setting is such a great idea. By firstly drawing the characters with these markers, we can then create an elaborate background like what I had just done. I’d definitely do something similar again and look forward to creating more kawaii stuff!