Post #400811 by tobunga on Tue, Aug 12, 2008 2:11 PM

Thanks for the feedback!
Savage Daddy - glad you like, saw your thread... your tiki carving is awesome!
Brad and Kinny - thanks for the encouragement, always appreciated from talented tiki veterans like you two!
tikithomas08 - yeah, t-shits emblazoned with my art would be cool!
TikiTres- thanks for the great Bill Campbell/Weird-Ohs link.
Dirk Yates - Thanks! I dig your cool work too!

Here's a new series of paintings on which I've been working the past few days.

I decided to document the process and post it all here. The idea came to me somehow that a pattern on a butterfly or moth could be adapted to look like a tiki face. I know the idea isn't terribly original, but I did some sketches, and came up with some images I liked.

Then I drew out the actual images i was going to paint. I blocked out the size of the canvases on paper, and to keep the paper use to a minimum, I drew the sections touching. That gave me the idea to have all three pieces form one big image, and the series became a triptych.

After transferring the image to canvas, I started painting the insects, then the flowers. It's sort of ironic for a work in progress presentation, but this is actually the reverse of how I normally paint. I usually start with the farthest layer and work my way up to the foreground, or the main focus or the image. (I saw a photo of Kinny doing it this way, and thought I'd give it a try).

Then I painted in the leaves. This part took the most time to complete.

Then I went back and added the final details to the insects. This photo shows the tops of the canvas, where more of the tikis in the background are visible. The image continues on all four sides of the canvases.

Here are the individual pieces:
Mothtiki 1 8x8, acrylic on canvas

Mothtiki 2 8x8, acrylic on canvas

Mothtiki 3 8x8, acrylic on canvas

Well, that's it fer now! Hope these pieces aren't too stupid!

http://ericoctober.com

[ Edited by: tobunga 2008-08-12 14:45 ]