I am really quite sick of this picture! I started it in July; I caught a glimpse of a very cute little girl in a kimono as we walked through the Bon Odori festival in Georgetown, Penang, and sketched her down as well as I could remember when we got back to our hotel for dinner. And it stayed like that, a half-finished sketch in my watercolour sketchbook, until the beginning of January, when I figured it was about time to finish her off.
I changed my original sketch, which had her holding on to her mother's hand, as by necessity I couldn't show the whole mother, as the paper wasn't big enough, and gave her a balloon. And then I added dragons. I'm not quite sure why, maybe the idea of the Chinese year of the Dragon had got into my subconscious (But yes, she's Japanese, not Chinese). But it's never the best idea if I start something without any clear idea of where I'm going.
And I've been trying to finish her for over a week, but everything got very busy, and it got hot. And I mean hot. If you've ever tried to watercolour when it's 42 degrees (that's 108F) you'll know that even if you can get up the inclination, it doesn't tend to work very well at all. >.<
But I've made it, she's finished. Hooray! I'm not quite sure if I like it or not, but she's finished, nonetheless. I hope you like her!
Winsor and Newton watercolours in a Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook
I love the dragons. Dragons are my favourite creatures. I don't think it matters that they're Chinese and the girl is Japanese. I think the picture looks great!
ReplyDeleteThanks Imogen! The dragons are based on Japanese dragons as well, they're a tad more reptilian-looking than Chinese dragons, but I didn't do any extreme research =P I haven't really done a dragon in years, so it was fun to do them again. I'm glad you like it!
DeleteI agree - dragons are wonderful creatures and always love seeing impressions of them. These remind me of semi-aquatic creatures, excellent for a hot day.
ReplyDeleteA cute picture too.
Thank you! Asian dragons do sort of swim through the air, they don't have any wings like western dragons, and seem to move a bit like watersnakes and things. Apparently they're water spirits, but I'm afraid I haven't done much research.
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