Rituals watercolour series
So I walked into a rituals store a couple of months ago and inspiration struck me,
The way every product line was based on a ritual with usually 2 main ingredients was intriguing to me. By reading the description you could almost see the sense. So that was exactly what I tried to do, visualise every sense, and try to incorporate this in a portrait painting.
I studied all the ingredients and there backgrounds and choose a couple of my favourite rituals to create 5 , A3 watercolour pictures.
Ritual of Ayurveda
This was my first pick-the ritual of Ayurveda, based on Indian rose, and sweet almond. I gave her some honey blond braids, and a warm almond skin, the rose petals, and smudged lipstick give this painting such a warm and romantic feel, that I can almost smell the sense from looking at it!
Ritual of Karma
The next one in my ritual series is the ritual of Karma, based on holy lotus and white tea. Holy lotus is a symbol for purity beauty and wisdom, white tea is known for its fresh green and clean fragrance.
I choose to let the woman in the portrait bathe in a steamy lake representing the white tea. She is surrounded with pink holy lotus flowers which enhance her peachy pink lip colour. The green clothing items give this painting the freshness I envisioned. While she looks over her shoulder, her deep brown eyes are looking straight at the viewer
Ritual of Mehr
Inspired by Mehr, the sun, it boosts your mood, energises your soul and supports you in the flurry of this modern-day world. The Ritual of Mehr celebrates the joy that comes from the bold, bright energy of the sun, helping you direct that vitality into your life.
This is personally my favourite painting in this series.
She is full of energy, her bouncy bright orange hair, and piercing green eyes, give this painting so much life. Her cool toned skin with wooden engraving paired with a graceful pose represent the soothing smell of the majestic cedar tree.
These two ingredients are perfectly balanced.
The Ritual of Holi
The Ritual of Holi is inspired by the ancient tradition from India that celebrates the arrival of a colourful new season -spring- and the victory of good over evil. It inspires forgiveness, spirituality and a reset of soured relationships. By covering each other with colourful powder, participants are symbolically ridding themselves of emotional impurities and starting anew.
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Since this is a ritual of celebration I wanted to give this woman a bold and colourful glam look, paired with a big pearly white lily in her ear. I incorporated the print of the pink oranges into her headscarf. The bold colours in the background represent the powder from the Holi festival.
RITUAL OF SAKURA
rice milk & cherry blossom
The fragile blossoms of the Sakura tree are falling down like spring snow, surrounding her in a playful way. As they fall, the delicate flowers rest in her natural hair, showing the strong connection with nature.
The soft virgin white draping represents the white rice, as it’s a symbol for abundant happiness and fertility
