What an intensive week it has been! Busy again: FIVE big fat boxes of Hello Kitty merchandise arrived on my doorstep in the Netherlands last week from the U.S., all to unpack and sort. You see, I am an huge collector of Hello Kitty, a hobby and passion for the past 25 years or so. Anything with Hello Kitty including plushies, figurines, stationery, home ornaments, clothes, accessories, handbags, shoes, you name it, I enjoy collecting. But even something as enjoyable as collecting kawaii stuff like Hello Kitty’s can be rather stressful too! How can that be?
Getting Overwhelmed
The excitement of seeing a new merchandise or coming across a rare vintage, adding to your collection and looking at it with great satisfaction then rearranging and rotating stuff all indeed make this a fun hobby but it also comes with its downsides. Apart from financial strain, it is also time and effort: Unpacking one box a day so I can spread my tasks out during my busy schedule, then sorting the items into piles and boxes by categories so I can organize what goes in which room. Quite a job too crossing off “received” items on the list! All done now but to be honest, I am quite overwhelmed with all the stuff I have. It is great to have possession of them and enjoy my collection, but where and how to store or display is getting to be a headache. So yesterday and much of today, I decided to leave them be, take a break from it all and… PAINT about it!
Let’s Get Creative!
First I grabbed my Strathmore’s mixed media A4 sketchbook and penciled away on a two-page spread. Little One dressed in blue with a red ribbon similar to Hello Kitty. First on the left, she’s all excited and elated, then as you cast your eyes on the right side, she’s all overwhelmed and in a bit of distress. Poor thing! A series of media was used for filling in the colors, including Pink Ecoline Ink and pearlescent watercolor by Kremer Pigmente for the background. Little One painted in with water-soluble oil pastels with glitter added. Then fine details like the 5 boxes, as illustrated in the middle, were filled in Uni Posca pens and Faber Castell’s Pitt Artists Pen. Finally a variety of Hello Kitty stickers and washi tape followed to enhance the excessiveness! The art supplies used:
Getting creative is a great way to escape from stress, including something as enjoyable as collecting Hello Kitty’s! Of course, I still have a long way to go when I return to my many piles of all the cute items to tidy away but this was a great distraction. I’ll be ok. At least I may have a clearer mind and better vision (!) now. And being able to balance my two top hobbies, Hello Kitty collecting and painting cute things, is something I’ve been able to manage well so far.
Closer look at the left and right side:
My Kawaii Quarter 