Last month I took part in Lilla Rogers' Global Talent Search. I normally wouldn't even have the nerve to enter, but after taking her Bootcamp course, I honestly didn't want to stop doing her awesome assignments! I've decided to take her MATS A course in October. I'm totally hooked. What I love about her briefs is that I always learn something. Actually, I learn A LOT. Maybe it's because she encourages us to explore, yet gives us some structure and maybe a little advice on thinking differently about creating art. For this assignment, we were asked to create a piece of wall art that is 7 x 9 inches in vertical orientation that has to do with terrariums. Cool, huh?
As always, I first spend some time researching and looking at photographs of the subject matter. I never gave terrariums much thought, but I really became obsessed with them! They are so beautiful, and I love anything tiny. I even made two with my son. For a simple tutorial on how we did it, click here.
I did many sketches of plants. Then I sketched out a bunch of thumbnails of ideas:
I couldn't decided between the top right hand flower, the elephant in the center, or the polar bear on the right. So I did all three! Midway through, though, I realized that the elephant had won my heart.
Here is my final piece:
I ended up using part of my flower painting for the background and some of my early plant sketches for the pattern on the wall as well. I'm happy with the way it turned out. He makes me smile. It is something I normally wouldn't do, as it isn't a piece I would do for a picture book. But I think it would make a nice piece of wall art or perhaps a card. :) I also would like to explore doing something further with that solemn polar bear!
I didn't make the final cut, but it was a great experience. A HUGE congratulations to the people who made the final cut! Looking forward to seeing what you came up with in the following round! Go here to view their artwork There are a lot of yummy pieces there!