Dragon
2007 - 31"x16"x1" Acrylic, colored pencil, charcoal, newspaper, inkjet photo prints, on found plywood.
Finished with three coats of Krylon Kamar Varnish #1312
(Available - Inquire for price)

The repetitive pattern for the mountains was inspired by a decorative pattern I saw on a menu (see photo below). I also used portions of the natural wood grain pattern for the shore below the river, and a portion of the sky. The lines are colored pencil or charcoal, and I used slightly watered down acrylic paint to give a watercolor type look.

The wood had paint on the left and right sides because I used it to support another painting I had worked on. I decided to use paper collage to cover up the paint marks. The right side is made from newspaper headlines that I cut out from a Chinese newspaper. The photos on the left side were printed out in grayscale from an inkjet printer and then painted red. The top photo is a boar since 2007 is the year of the boar. The zodiac sign and junk boat are also painted inkjet prints. The dragon and fire were created with hand drawn paper stencils and acrylic paint. I have been wanting to experiment with silver and gold paint. I used silver paint for the dragon. Silver paint mixed with water was lightly applied over the paper collage areas to provide some sparkle (not evident in photos). Silver paint was also mixed with blue for the blue portion of the mountains.

The painting isn't about anything. I have had all kinds of Asian art inspiration building up, and it just randomly came out in this painting.