It is now the beginning of March, and I’m in the mood for some very colorful painting! During a stroll in the neighborhood the other day, I noticed some flowers blooming along the streets already. Daffodils and pansy-looking flowers which apparently are typical for March. It has also been a while since following Alena Hennessy’s on-line classes on watercolor abstract painting, even as far back as before Christmas! Life happens and things got busy with travelling and holidays. Now that things are getting better settled, I intend on resuming and continuing better focussed with the classes. Just followed the next Unit “Abstract”, lesson one. And what a perfect opportunity to get started with some Spring themes!
The Orbs
Alena gets us to start with painting long oval shapes with a thick brush which she calls “orbs”. Neither straight lines nor round circles, they’re great shapes to practice with and familiarize oneself with the brushes. Using large brushes is the key here. So glad I bought myself a few Japanese calligraphy brushes when I was in Tokyo last month! Great quality stuff and love how the colors just flow. Here I just used Derwent’s Pastel Colors set and another set from the lesser known brand “Prima Marketing”. Just having a play here and experimenting with the colors starting with the red, then the complementary pink and eventually moving onto the cooler colors like blue and violet. See how the colors team together in harmony…
Further Play
Once I let this dry, I incorporated some metallic colors like gold and a darker color like graphite. Then some fluorescent pink followed by more blues and green. For this part, I went for Derwent’s sets in Pastels and Metallics and Komorebi watercolors for the fluorescent pink. Some gold and glitter purple gel pens as well as white Uni Posca marker were further added for the fine lines and little dots to give some contrast to the large Orb shapes. Introducing contrast is they key to abstract painting, I am told. Now I see why! I kept on continuing with adding more layers, shapes and colors but was not entirely pleased with the whole picture. Some of the orbs looked a bit empty but rather than add more details to them, I experimented with sprinkling some sea salt whilst the paint was wet. Once dry, they give an interesting texture with starburst patterns. Love it. And now I’m very happy with this painting!
Working on this painting was so much fun! It was the positive vibes from the colors and the rhythm of the flow that got me motivated. No surprise, then, that this is so far the best painting of all the ones I have done whilst following Alena’s classes. Perhaps I am getting more practice now. Also having better brushes helped, including the big Japanese caligraphy brush. Seeing how the Spring is approaching with all the pretty flowers appearing certainly got me in the mood for bright vivid colors. And now, I can’t wait to do the next lesson!
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My Kawaii Quarter 