Photoshop edited to enhance some colors. I can't really decide which I like more, the saturated version here, or the finished piece below.
This was the finished piece. I loved the composition, the colors, etc. This is one of my favorite paintings that I have created to date.
Background painted, just need to add the details of the water reflection and ripples. You can't even tell it was a reused canvas at this point.
I used some modeling paste to go back and kind of get the texture of the giraffe lines out so that they wouldn't show in the final painting. This also got rid of the stain.
The canvas I used was actually reused from a straight giraffe pattern I'd painted under it. I went over it with white and sketched out my idea. The left side was also stained with some sort of ink that I couldn't recall putting on it.
This piece was inspired from an emotional place within. It was painted during a time where I was feeling like I was drowning in an ocean of new responsibility, expectations, and pressure. I wasn't in college anymore, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It was a difficult time, and I constantly felt like I was just beneath the surface, unable to break the thresh hold and breathe. Yet, there wasn't immediate danger around me. Life was still calm, with this ever impending, dooming threat of choices I need to make for my future. Much like how the water here is still and dark with the possibility of something lurking within.
You're welcome to make your own interpretation, it can certainly be more light hearted than that!
I actually sold the original here to a man in Florida. Though I'd be able to recreate it if ever need be. Send me an email if you're interested.
