Sharing here another painting from Tracy Verdugo’s art retreat in Montelparo, Italy last week! Actually it is part of a painting. We were to create four mini ones from one large piece of paper whilst practicing abstract painting techniques and experimenting with various mediums. It first begins by firstly dividing a huge piece of paper into four equal parts with masking tape. Then we had to think of a four-lettered word (!) and paint each letter on each square before eventually developing it into four different mini abstract paintings!
Four-Lettered Word
So what word did I go for? “Love” first came to mind, but when I looked around me, I noticed that many of the other students chose that as well. Wanting to be more original, another word popped up. How about “cute”? Doodled that onto the four different zones with Antelope Brown acrylic ink. And the rest was history! Random shapes and mark-making ideas began spilling out, one after another. Some were references to the symbols we came across during our day excursions, whilst others were my usual flowers and cutesy things. Naturally, I also incorporated some of my kawaii characters like Little One and some animals! Mediums include acrylic inks along with some Acryla gouache, crayons, water soluble oil pastels and markers. Stencils were also introduced as were bits of collage paper like napkins and even the print from our paper cups!
The Letter “C”
The masking tape was finally peeled off once I considered this assignment complete. And look how cool they look! The four pieces were carefully cut out with a pair of scissors. Discovering how each has its own story to tell, I thought it would be an idea to share them individually! Is that Little One swimming in the lake? And where is the cat wandering off to? And what’s up with the rabbit? She’s in the Moon! In Japan, we have a legend about a rabbit living in the moon because the marks of its surface somewhat resemble an image of one. Interesting that this moon is orange too! During our time in Italy, we did indeed come across the “Strawberry Moon” on June 11. Strange coincidence as that was clearly not the intention in this painting!
For now, here is the first of the Cute Quartet from the letter C. More to follow shortly with their own interesting stories left to our imagination. So do watch this space!
My Kawaii Quarter 
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