It’s soon my late mother’s birthday! She would be turning 91. Sadly she passed away 11 years ago, and I miss her terribly. She is, of course, still in my heart, and never would I forget her birthday! Every year, in fact. I would dedicate a painting to her, reminiscing about the wonderful times together as mother and daughter. This year is no exception, and here we are…
The Beginning
I went for an A4 Bristol Paper here. First wet it with a soft wide brush dipped in water and covered the entire area. Before it got dry, some India Ink (Dr. Ph Martins Bombay Ink) in gold, iridescent yellow and two shades of blue were randomly splashed around using the droppers with which the bottles came. I then let that all dry before applying a wash of acrylic ink in two different shades of green and turquoise, two of them being iridescent) just to see what would happen when layered on top of the india ink. The India Ink as you can see still shows through clearly. Then some random bits of collage paper scattered around. I left two spaces deliberately blank, though, so I can draw the faces later. The unwanted India Ink dots in the area were then covered with white acrylic paint.
Drawing Us
Paints used here are Fluid Acrylics by Golden. First I painted the faces with the usual blend of titanium white and quinacridone azo nickel gold, then used the excess of the latter to roughly sketch the hair. Once I had a better idea of our characters. the background was then painted in: Cobalt Blue and Manganese Blue for the sky, followed by Nickel Azo Yellow for the ground. I figured I’d make an autumn scenery today! By applying Sennelier’s Sepia acrylic ink with the dropper and spreading it with a think brush, the hair was further enhanced. I liked the floral patterns of the collage paper so much that I went ahead and added more to make it part of my mother’s dress. So far so cute!
Further Painting…
The rest of mama’s dress like the sleeves and fringe was filled in with fluorescent orange to match the center of the flowers. As for myself, I had to make a few adjustments with the size of my body before filling it in with matte pink (also Sennelier acrylic paint). The body was a bit too big on the rough sketch and hence the white acrylic paint around the area after which once dry was covered with the Nickel Azo Yellow. Then the eyes were drawn in, to be further filled in later. It was at the last moment that I decided to introduce a gold crown for my mother, as it’s her birthday, and a party hat for myself. Good move. Now it definitely looks more festive!
Finishing Touches
No festive painting, especially this one, is finished without some sparkles! First I went for the crown, which had already been painted in gold. Applied some gold glitter paint by Izink Diamond before lining the area with gold relief paint. Then I dotted the jewels of the crown with some gold glitter glue. My outfit, after adding the round white collar, was also embellished with some pink Marabu Glitter Liner and carefully spread out with my ring finger. I then lined our eyes with black Stickles glitter glue. Finally, sequins were incorporated, one on the tip of my hat and the other on mama’s dress. Et voilà!
How fun it is painting for mama! Sadly she is no longer around to know about my rediscovery into painting. If only she knew, especially as she always loved my randomly kawaii doodles, but then again she is watching us from heaven and delighted to see how happy I am pursuing this new creative hobby. I hope she will love this painting too! And Happy Birthday to my sweet lovely Mama. I love and miss you so much!
My Kawaii Quarter 