Here is the last painting I had just started at my Tuesday evening abstract art classes before our tutor, Dieter decided to stop them due to health reasons and time constraints back in May 2022. A pity, as I thoroughly enjoyed his sessions. We would not only learn new painting techniques but also get inspired by famous artists and develop them to our own style. Living in the Netherlands, I preferred to focus on Dutch artists. One of such artists is Vincent Van Gogh.
The Inspiration
After having a look at some of his work, the one that caught my eye was The Starry Night. What I love about this painting is the mysterious atmosphere of the sky captured through Van Gogh’s use of this beautiful blue combined with warm shades of yellow and green. Another is the brush strokes that clearly reflects the movement of the wind and vibrance of the moon and stars. So here we go…
Incorporating Little One
To develop it into my style, I opted for the kawaii anime look using bright vivid colors to bring some happy vibes. And of course I wanted to incorporate my muse, Little One, in this painting! How could I not? Seeing how I wanted to make my version more a fantasy, I decided to make a variation and replace the landscape of the city with more wind and stars. Alternatively, we can even interpret them as sea waves and balls of light to result in something abstract which is the objective of our classes. And here is my pencil sketch on a huge piece of paper mounted on a cardboard:
Introducing Colored Pencils
Another variation I chose was the medium: colored pencils in lieu of oil paint. Obviously oil paint was unfeasible anyway, but I was also curious about experimenting with colored pencils on a big scale. It would give me the opportunity to practice creating strokes as explicitly as Van Gogh has done. As you can see here, I began with the background using 2-3 different shades of blue and simply penciling in with small vertical strokes, where as the round yellow balls were done in a circular motion to emphasize the roundness. Unfortunately, this is where I had to stop, since Dieter had to announce he was going to discontinue his lessons. That was in the beginning of May 2022, when this unfinished painting was then taken home and placed in my art studio waiting to be completed.
Continuing On
It took over a year to get around to it, and finally I took the plunge and put the drawing on my desk to resume where I had left off. The colored pencils I had used in the art classes were from the tutor’s set of Van Gogh by Royal Talens which was great quality but rather than go out of my way and buy my own set, I simply went for what I already have which in my opinion were just as good: Faber Castell’s and Holbein’s. In my own style, I chose bright vivid shades of blue, yellow, green and pink and continued to follow the shape of each item: the waves, leaves stars, moon and of course Little One! Some of the balls on the bottom left got painted orange to match the moon to balance the composition. And star or not, we leave it up to the viewer to decide. And what’s Little One up to? That’s also for us to figure out. I think she’s in a dream, how cute!
And now, another chance to go beyond my comfort zone! So happy to have finally completed this colored pencil piece. You can indeed see the influence from Van Gogh and yet with the vivid colors you get another kind of energy. And of course you get the kawaii element too. Working with colored pencils gave me another insight into painting with colors with effects you don’t get with paint or even markers. More emphasis on movement and flow is what comes to mind. I’d definitely like to create more colored pencil art like this!
PS. Dieter continues to run his arts supplies and framing shop with his son’s help. As soon as my painting was completed, I took it to his place to get it framed. He was ever so happy to see me continue with this artwork and loved it. Going back there to pick it up in a few weeks and curious what it will all look like framed!
My Kawaii Quarter 