In the first post, I briefly described my creative session with children Doroteja (8) and Domas (5). Later, I used the drawings by children, their stories and photographs to create 10 different ideas for a Neverland Portrait. Out of these ideas, the family chose their favourite – Doroteja and Angry Fish. The video below briefly shows the whole story of how this idea came about.
In this and future posts, I will talk about the further development of this idea and its various painterly versions.
As I said in the post Preparation and Idea Generation for a Painting ‘Doroteja and Angry Fish, I painted the initial ideas on small format (A5) sheets of paper with watercolours. The first ideas were Doroteja and Angry Fish in the Sky, Doroteja and Angry Fish in a Vortex and Doroteja and Angry Fish Underwater.
Then I thought to myself- I could paint Doroteja with the fish under water which would be greenish-blue emerald colour. The gently waving surface of the sea water could be reflected on the sand at the bottom of the painting, and perhaps at the top there could also be a light breaking through the waves. How can I adapt these textures to the oval composition?… Perhaps there could be the shadow. and there the light…
Comparing to the previous ideas, such an image was more traditional, realistic and somewhat sentimental. However, once I started painting this idea, my sketch reminded me not only of the world being seen as if through an oval window or as if in a dream, but also that the painting itself could be a 3D oval illusion that would resemble a round crystal shape.
In such a unexpected way, the painting depicting the underwater world became a crystal ball (more precisely – an oval). Thereafter, I decided to use the waves and shadows to form the illusion of a third dimension.
In order to paint the light shining through the wavy surface of the water, I used the painting technique that I discovered while I was still in high school. Back then I used this video tutorial:
Briefly put, the technique is to paint horizontal diamond shapes while rolling the paint brush with your fingers. I needed to practice a lot to do it properly. Nevertheless, the effect is fascinating.
In this painting, Doroteja and the fish may look like a crystal pebble/amulet. Or maybe even a magical crystal ball that belongs to witches (just like in the fairy tale “Mermaid Ariel”). It could show the past, present or future. On the other hand, perhaps it could be the parents watching over their daughter – is she experiencing a fun adventure or is she in danger needing to be saved?
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