May I say something?

I am trying to learn to paint. One of my favorite artists, Yoshitomo Nara, makes these delicious backgrounds that have so many colors in them, but it’s very subtle. I have been trying to figure out his technique, which seems to involve layering lots of colors:

I’ve been making a lot of drawings in my journal this year. Many are posted on my Instagram account. I just start drawing and see what happens. But now I’m wanting to stop being such a wimp and start making bigger pieces. I’ve made a few big works, but I’m so scared of screwing up on a large scale that I play it safe. Recently I’ve played it so safe I haven’t painted anything big.

So I thought I’d start small going larger, and I made a drawing on a 9″ x 12″ sheet of 140 lb., hot press watercolor paper. Here it is.

It actually looks better digitally than it does in person. The white crayon I used over the background to try to tone it down looks much cruder. Plus the paper’s all curled up. That’s a bit of an issue with paper…

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