Cherry blossoms, take two

The story

My favourite story, because it has a plot twist. I painted this pair in such a rush, so last-minute, that they got ruined. Really ruined. All mushed, terrible.

They were a birthday gift for the same best friend I painted the sushi cats for, and this birthday came with a trip to Amsterdam. She wanted to wear them in the tulip fields, so the shoes had to be ready. To my utter shame, I started on the evening of 15 April 2023, and only painted the Swooshes. On 16 April at 22:48 I started the pencil sketches of the flowers. On 17 April at 13:00 the flowers had their first layer of pink, no details at all yet. I finished them at 2:17 on 18 April, and on 19 April at 5:40 in the morning we were boarding the plane. Only a few hours of actual painting, scattered over those days. Far too little for a pair like this.

I had no patience, no good products, and my prep was superficial. There was no time to build the details up in layers: I needed the yellow and the other light colours to show up immediately, fully opaque. So I did the most logical thing at that point: thick layers. A lot of paint. And, damn, did I learn my lesson. The colours bled and mushed around, and some of it got onto the fabric at the top of the shoe, where you put your foot in. She did wear them in the tulip fields, at least. But was it worth it? Probably not. I should have started sooner and done them right.

Then came the twist: I took the whole design off. It was my first full removal, and it taught me a lot. You can clean a pair right back to white and start over. It's also sooo hard. The paint sinks into the little seams, and they hold on to the colour like their life depends on it. The fabric collar was the worst: I scrubbed and rubbed, used tons of acetone and brushes, and in the end I think I repainted some parts in white to hide the damage. If you look closely, you can still see pink around the seams. Pretty poetic.

A year later, on 27 April 2024, I got them back. They were fully clean by 7 May and finished by 10 May. Same design, but this time with Angelus paints, more skill and knowledge, a chiller pace, and real time to pay attention to them.

Process

1. 012023: Swooshes first, then pencil sketches of the flowers
2. 022023: Thick layers, so the light colours would cover in one go. They bled and mushed together
3. 032024: Taking the whole design off with acetone, brushes and a lot of scrubbing
4. 04Repainting the most stubborn spots in white
5. 05The pink blossoms, in Angelus this time
6. 06Brown-gold branches and tiny dots
7. 07Golden centres and pink details on every flower
8. 08Pink Swooshes, last

What I learned

• ✦Thick layers make light colours cover fast, then bleed and mush. Now I paint the slightest layers, just a drop of colour at a time.
• ✦Tape the fabric collar while you paint. Getting paint out of it is a pain.
• ✦A design can be fully removed and repainted, but the seams never quite give the colour back.
• ✦Rushing cost me far more time in the end than doing it right would have.

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