Europe has been in turmoil with the weather this summer. First a heatwave of 35℃ or more followed by a series of rain storms and even floods in parts of the continent. Here in the Netherlands it’s quite unstable too, sunny one minute pouring rain the next, although so far our area has been spared from disaster. Still, very sad to hear about lost lives and many others who have lost their homes. Everyone, including Little One is also concerned. “Must be all the climate change,” she cries. And today, she decided to dress up as a fairy with a magic wand shaped like a flower wishing we could change the world for the better!
The Start
This piece was created whilst following the next lesson of Juliette Crane’s Serendipity I classes, “Taking Your Favorites in New Directions”. What an inspiring class this was! As the name suggests, we take our favorite characters, colors and style a step further. A different substrate, different pose and maybe experiment a bit more with something new. As Juliette did, I also chose to paint on a plank of wood, something my partner has been leaving behind as scraps for his DIY work. A layer of white gesso was followed by blocks of colors. Here I used Sennelier’s fluorescent red and grey, Amsterdam Acrylic titanium white and Ranger’s Dina Wakley’s Media acrylic paint in Lemon all spread randomly with a palette knife:
Character Development
I of course deliberately left a blank space where I can place the character’s face. After an initial sketch with a marking pencil, the face was firstly painted with our usual blend of Quinacridone Azo Nickel Gold and Titanium White. The hair was then sketched with the marking pencil and brown watersoluble oil pastel, followed by the wings in white. And now the background was roughly painted with a combination of Manganese Blue Hue and Cobalt Turquoise as well as the Titanium White. All of these paints are Fluid Acrylics by Golden.
Emergence of the Fairy
And now we’re starting to see her! First the golden crown with once again, Golden Fluid Acrylic but in Deep Gold. A few layers were needed to make give it a more shimmery effect on the wooden surface, but that was easily done. Then the eyes: This time I decided to make them slightly green and went for Sap Green, followed by a thicker consistency of titanium white. The background was further worked on, and seeing I didn’t want to wipe out all of the fluorescent red, I left an area out. At this point, I thought she could be holding something, a flower perhaps? I hadn’t thought about it yet…
Adding Texture
After having painted Little One’s fairy dress in yellow (Sennelier’s #545) and the flower in pink (#658), it was time to introduce some texture. That’s the fun part! Great way to play around with acrylic texturing mediums like Modelling paste for the hair, Glass Beads for the wings and Clear Tar Gel or the eyes. In addition, I applied some Izink glitter paints, gold on the crown and a bit of the white on the collar and wing. All spread with a palette knife and left to set overnight. Following morning added more where necessary with finishing touches using glitter glue and gold 3D liners as well as fluorescent red gouache for some accent to the background to bring back the color again. A pink sticker with gold heart was then glued on as finishing touch, et voilà… our kawaii little fairy!
Very pleased how this painting turned out. It took a few weeks to complete, as I had been travelling in between and it is always good to come back to it with a fresher mind. Love the color scheme and how adorable, as usual, Little One turned out. Plus another fun and inspiring session with Juliette! I love her work and hence enjoy following her classes and learning how to create and develop my own style whilst also adopting her methods and ideas. Painting on a wood plank (which I’ve done once before) was a brilliant idea and quite resourceful too if you have a few lying around the house. Can’t wait to be using more again soon!
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My Kawaii Quarter 