After several days of working on it, I finally finished this piece that I wanted to dedicate to my grandfather. I’ve never tried something like this before, but I’m proud of the way that it turned out. I used various sized pens and initially thought to watercolor the entire piece, but found that watercolor is a poor medium choice for Bristol board (the type of paper I used). To confirm things, I tested watercolors on an extra piece of bristol paper and it didn’t have the effects I was looking for.

I wanted to do something like this for a long time. I believe it’s an art style called “surrealism”. Initially, I wanted to draw a turtle with a water-tower for a shell, but as my initial drawing progressed I came to realize that the water tower wouldn’t have turned out as aesthetically pleasing. Instead, I kept the water-tower-like illusion but made it look wider and added a thatch roof. This inevitably lead to a more hut-like appearance, and I felt like that was befitting of a turtle since it’s home is on its back. Once the turtle was done, I wanted to add shapes, so I began with the circle behind its head. When it came to the circle, I didn’t want anything to obstruct the shape, so the circle is in front of everything, except the turtle head. With that, I continued with the circular motion and my initial water-tower idea by adding a tidal wave behind the turtle. I took inspiration from the popular Japanese painting of a large tsunami, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa“, when it came to the white tips of the tidal wave.

Lastly, I didn’t feel as though the picture was complete after completing the turtle and the tidal wave, so I continued the turtle’s pattern into the background and added red to various places to draw focus back onto the main piece. I hope you all enjoy this piece, as I look forward to working on more like it in the future (as time allows). I’ve decided to put a hefty price on this piece, as it’s an original and holds much sentimental value. Prints will be available for much cheaper as soon as I can get it scanned. I’ve also decided that 50% of any and all profit that I make will go towards a charity of my or the purchaser’s choosing. By default, the charity I would choose to give to will be the Wounded Warrior Project.

Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Details:

Title: “Welcome Home”
Size: 11″ x 14″
Medium: Pencil and Ink on Bristol Paper
Original: $125 USD – CONUS
Print: $15 USD – CONUS
Payment Method Accepted: Paypal
Contact: Please e-mail me if interested.