Post #407681 by tikitony on Sat, Sep 13, 2008 10:25 AM

This is one of my first black velvet painting so far. 2 years ago Gecko gave me a black velvet painting that his Uncle Leo did of my Tabou Tiki room mug. That was my first time having a black velvet in front of me to stare at for hours, which sparked my interest. Bongofury has been bugging me for even longer to do a black velvet painting, which he has an amazing collection of wahines. But it wasn't until seeing Heather Watts black velvets (I bought one) at Tiki Oasis this year which finally inspired me to unroll the black velvet I had sitting in my closet for over 2 years to paint on. Finally getting to use all those lighting techniques I learned in my countless drawing classes in art school, I feel like I'm finally able to capture the world I see in my head with black velvet. I'm trying to come up with a more definitive name for this monkey, for now its Coco, because that is what Alene called him.

I'm currently mapping out the world he lives in, the friends he has, the enemies he steers clear of, and the things he creates. Tonight, he lazily drifts down a swampy river lit only by the stacked skulls aflame. Fireflies vibrate as they fluctuate their glow from dark to bright. His toucan friend has gone to bed but is beginning to worry.

Sticking to the Beachcomber environmentalist path, the frame is made from my old surf racks that I made for my veggie oil wagon. They were splitting and I kept imagining my 11 foot surfboard flinging off my roof on the freeway as my racks splintered, so I decided to make some heftier racks with carved tapa designs in them.

If Fed Ex came through, this should have touched down at Planet Rooth yesturday!