A quick painting and birthday gift for someone I'm very close with. The week is almost done, just in time for it to start again. Here's to the fact that I'll finally get to do double backs on Saturday, and that's getting me through the week. I don't know, today has been great and horrible all at once. I feel like I need to catch my breath, but I can't.
Watercolour and the tiniest bit of coloured pencil and acrylic marker on watercolour paper. Size A4. Done with negative painting technique. This was inspired by a figure found in a Kinder egg from my daughter. It seems to be common sense these days to scan and fix your artwork digitally before posting it on any social media. I don't do that. I kind of like the little (or bigger) imperfections in my work, and I also believe that uploading traditional work that has been digitally fixed gives people the idea that such perfect pictures can be achieved in a traditional way.
Fairly recently I was "commissioned" to paint a picture of my cousin and grandmother. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but painting this was a bit of a challenge. There were definitely moments where I stopped painting and completely hated how it looked/became frustrated with myself, and I wouldn't work on it for days. I felt an odd pressure attached to making this... or maybe I'm crazy. 16x20, acrylic.
Close to a month ago, I had found out my design was selected for the Art Stop Program, and, yes, this is mainly what I've been working on since. I've never worked on a piece this large before, 72in x 24in, and I rarely make sketches of pieces before creating the final work. It's definitely a cool feeling to look at the finished board and see how the drawing actually came to life. (The Art Stop Program selects a handful of entered designs for the artists to create on a larger board, and these boards will then be inserted into bus stop benches around Niles, IL.) I can't wait to see the bench this will be in, and I'm so lucky I got to be part of the program.
