While cute works very well for a children’s interactive e-book, it’s not a place I want to venture into as I create my first print…with a polar bear holding a heart.
My creations are sometimes the product of a previously forgotten doodle in a sketch pad or the development of ideas once scribbled on a scrap of paper and indiscriminately stuffed into a notebook. Other times they are the result of instantaneous, wonderful, light bulb moments.
This one is the former. It started out as a simple napkin drawing 17 years ago.
I was at a medical conference in the Netherlands. I passed by a Stand in the Exhibition Hall and was immediately inspired by a small print, promoting heart health, that was sitting on the reception desk. I made a quick sketch and tossed it into my journal.
When I returned home, I pulled out the napkin and created a pencil drawing which I made copies of. Apparently, I made many copies because I still find them everywhere. I, then, painted one of the copied versions and inked the outlines. Copy paper is not the greatest substrate for paint, but it worked.
This was the finished product:
That ‘painting’ moved several times. It adorned many walls. It was adored. Over time it was ignored and, eventually, was put away.
But the copies kept popping up.
And I’d put them back thinking that they, at some point, must have a purpose.
I found one the other day and decided to draw it using my Wacom tablet.
I tweaked it, changed the colors a few times and created this:
I’m calling it “bare”.
What makes it part of Make-It Monday (since it’s already been created)?
Before we make prints available for sale, on Friday, over at Loose Canvas Design, I want to make the materials and production process as green as possible.
Reclaimed wood (and, perhaps, metal) will be used to make the frames. They will be 13′ x 13′ with a 1/2″ profile. They will be sprayed black or white with Krylon low-VOC spray paint.
Used glass will be purchased from a local vendor.
I want to use TerraSkin® paper and soy-based inks for the printing process.
Testing of those happens this week. Fine art paper will be the alternative.
I’ll talk more about TerraSkin® on “Tips and Tools” Thursday.
It’s an amazing product and a great tie-in to the release of Loose Canvas Design’s first offering-”bare”.
See you then!
