Under the Sea with G
Description
My niece, whose nickname is G, has grown very fond of sea animals. She has books about a baby otter and narwhal, and she has already gone to the aquarium twice in her one and a half years on Earth. So for our second Hackathon, I decided to paint a canvas of G's favorite sea animals using acrylic paint. I also made it 3D so that she can interact with it as a type of sensory play. I used modeling clay and sand to create the 3D sea bed, and I glued on glass cabochons onto my painted bubbles with Mod Podge.
Process
Before the actual Hackathon, I had to make sure that I could paint the different areas of the painting properly. This included figuring out how the animals would look, how thick the seaweed would be using modeling clay, and how much the bubbles would show through the cabochons. This process also helped me figure out how much time I would take to paint everywhere.
When Hackathon started, I first painted the background with sky blue, teal, and dark blue paint in descending order. While that was drying, I made the sea bed using decorator sand and iridescent paint medium to make it have a gritty and sparkly texture. For the seaweed, I tried to make it 3D using modeling paste, but as it dried, the seaweed became flatter. Also, to make the bubbles' outlines, I painted the edges of a bottle and stamped it onto the canvas.
For the animals, I sketched them out in pencil first to make sure they had the size and position I wanted to have on the canvas. Then I painted the basic shape and colors the animals were going to have. Finally, I outlined them in black marker and added the finer details.
To finish the bubbles, I added colored highlights to make them seem more bubble-like, and I glued on the glass cabochons. I learned halfway through that putting less Mod Podge was actually better since it was taking a long time to dry and clear up.
When the bubbles finally set, I was finished with the painting!
Reflection
Throughout the process, I had to jump around to paint some areas, let them dry while painting another area, and then come back to previous areas to touch them up. It was sometimes difficult to work around the wet paint, and the seaweed didn't turn out as 3D as I would have hoped. But other than that, I enjoyed making this painting, especially since I was making it for my niece. She seems to really like "popping" the bubbles, so I think my hard work paid off!
