"Sun, Moon & Stars"(c) 2011 by Kirk McConnell, gift to friend, Allen Calacci

This painting is done in acrylic on 11" x 14" canvas board. It was initially done as a lesson in design with my young pupil whom I was teaching shapes to at the time. Upon leaving it alone for a couple of weeks, I had decided that I wanted to take this picture further. It is my belief that if one can imagine something, then it can be made, e.g. painted.

This piece is called "Sun, Moon & Stars". It is a gift to my friend Allen who had just moved to his new apartment. He has been a real encouragement to me in the last couple of years, and I wanted to do something nice to say thanks for being my friend. 

For me, painting is not always about making money. It is also about sharing with others. I want to leave this earth one day knowing that I did my best to be kind to people. This piece to me represents finding that happiness in life when everything in life seams so busy. The sun and moon both smile but are different as night and day. It is a design that says we are small and the cosmos is greater than us, and we must do our part to try and fit in and live accordingly. If you will notice there is a number "42" in the moon's eye. It is a little homage to Douglas Adams: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Click on the image to see a larger view.

Hello Kitty Project Part III

The painting process took me almost 5 days to complete. I worked each day close to 14 hours, with little breaks in between. When painting, it is important to give yourself rest, space from the artwork so that you will have a clearer perspective and idea of how to accomplish your goal, and to stay on task as much as possible. I did have some things that were priorities during the week, and tried very hard to keep to the plan. After painting for two or three hours, I found I needed to read or go for a walk, just something other than painting. I am not complaining. Sometimes when you paint it can be frustrating because you know what you have to get done; the battle comes when you take too much extra time off here and there when you know every minute counts.

One thing that is very important to me is keeping my promise. I made sure that I worked very hard to complete this mural, not only to show that I could make a fine art piece, to hopefully generate future business doing artwork for families starting to raise children, but to make sure that I maintain personal integrity and keep my word honorable. It is not always easy. Sometimes it is painful. I think there is a Psalm in the Bible that talks about keeping one's word even when it hurts? 

This mural was also very important to me, as the couple who I painted for are having their first baby, a girl, and I wanted to give something special that would last for years to come. Something to be an inspiration and an enjoyment of comic book heroes. Everyone, or almost everyone, knows about Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty is one of the most recognized icons throughout the world. I cannot take credit for Hello Kitty, but as "fan art" goes, I am proud of the design I made involving: Halo Kitty, Captain America Kitty, Spiderman Kitty, Hulk Kitty, Iron Kitty, Wonder Kitty, Batman and Robin Kitty, the Kitty Signal, Green Lantern and Sinestro Kitty, and lastly, Darth Kitty.  I had ideas for more, but am glad I limited it to the quantity I selected to use in the drawing. Actually a few were added later when I asked about what extras, if given the opportunity would each like to see. It all worked out really nice.

I am going to close here and provide you with a couple of pictures showing the completed mural. You can click on the picture to see a larger view of the image if you would like. I hope that you enjoy them. 

Sincerely,

Kirk McConnell, artist

First, I painted each canvas with a Pthalo green trim.

After painting the trim, I filled in the night sky with Pthalo blue.

 

Next, I proceeded to add Cadmium yellow where needed.

Here, the painting is just about finished aside from a few details.

This is the finished artwork hanging inside the baby's room.

Yours truly, presenting his finished artwork.

Hello Kitty Project Part II

This is the bottom right panel with Kitty saying,"Dream Big!"

A sketch that I did.

In this entry, I just want to mention a little about the process it took me to paint this project. It was something I put a lot of time and energy into not only thinking about how the mural would look, but what colors I would use, brushes and style. It was kind of an intensive process, but I went from my initial concept art which I always do first. It is my policy, when doing artwork for someone, that I present viable ideas and present the best possible solutions to layout and design. There were a few moments that I thought I might be over thinking things. As the design process went for this project, I tried to maintain regular updates with the persons I was painting this mural and give them a brief progress report. I think this is important to communicate anytime you are doing artwork for someone. Inclusion helps to provide new ideas and clarity, when obstacles sometimes obscure what needs to be done.

This concept drawing measures 72" x 40"  cut into 6 pieces.

I had to wait for the canvases that were ordered to arrive, before I could begin painting. Even, after I received the canvases, I waited a day so that I could finish my overall drawings. I wanted to make sure the mural was going to be doable. I took time to inspect the canvases, and it worried me a little that the horizontal alignment was a little off due to the folds of the canvas in each corner. After a bit of adjusting and a deep breath, I felt like it would be okay to begin transferring the images.

My first thought about transferring the images was to use a Conte' crayon, because I didn't have any graphite. That was a bad idea, and a bit messy. Beyond the cumbersomeness of the crayon, I was about to opt for oil pastel, but that wouldn't work either. The solution, which turned out to be a lifesaver in productivity was old carbon paper I had been given. Having the carbon paper made it super easy for me to trace over my drawings and get a light impression on the canvas. One thing is for certain, and that was drawing and redrawing  kept me very busy. It took me a couple of hours to get everything transferred.

Images of Iron Man Kitty and Halo Kitty transferred to canvas with carbon paper (Click to see larger)  This was one of my favorite things to draw for this mural.

Hello Kitty Project Part I

Different Kitty Sketches by me.

I am currently working on a mural. Originally it was going to be painted on a wall, but, I am sort of relieved because it means that if the couple moved or decided to repaint the room the artwork would not be lost. It has been a busy week for me. The persons I am doing this artwork for are having their first baby, a girl. I am excited for them, and am honored that they would consider me to do this assignment. I really need to work, and painting is what I love to do. 

Two interesting characters I sketched.

I received the canvases over the weekend, and began preparations on Monday. Sketching, cleaning up my drawings, revising, contacting my clients and making sure things were good, have kept me very busy. One thing that is very important to me about this project is that I need to make sure I do it well. I don't like to do anything half-baked. My deadline is this Friday, with a Saturday Morning (emergency optional). Today is Tuesday, and I have not begun painting yet. It kind of makes me feel the pressure of getting this done. But, I believe the worst is over, as I have had some design problems as well as product problems with the 6 canvases that I was provided. Let me be clear that I am not assigning anyone blame, except for the manufacturer. They ought to double check their work next time. That is something I certainly do, but that is just me.

The specs for this mural are 6 canvas, each a 24" x 20", giving me a 72" w x 40" h panorama. It almost certainly seems like a lot more work than I thought, but I am just getting in to my zone, trying to get that artistic rhythm moving, and pressing forward. I am really excited to be doing this project, and not just the fact that it is a paying job, but I have a chance to make an impact in people's lives.

This is a work in progress, part of the initial design prep I have done.

In the mural, I will be painting in acrylic. Tomorrow, I will set up my brushes, and additional workspace materials. I have to work at the kitchen table, so I have to find an old, old bed sheet to spread over the table. My rule is, I clean as I go, so there is no worry about clean up. As I mentioned, I have done my initial prep work, which was the hardest part. I drew out my sketches and after some fumbling and solution finding, I was provided with a simple tool, a real life saver (where productivity is concerned,) some carbon paper for transferring and aligning my images on the canvas. I admit, it was a little tedious, but am relieved that it worked out.

I will post pictures of the canvas work tomorrow before I paint. Tonight, I used hair spray to fix the transferred images on canvas. I am hoping it works. I do not like smudges. Although there is some pressure to get this done, I am confident that I will finish on time, and believe that this project will be satisfactory to my clients.

It is one of my hopes that this will generate some more work for me. I would like to see this grow. I will be putting together a small flyer with details of my services and affix a business card for my clients to hand out this weekend when we show the artwork. I know it is not for a museum gallery, but I am trying to make sure that it could be shown in one. For this reason, I believe my clients can consider their home a "home gallery"-Nuff said!

I am going to attach a few pictures of what I have planned and am including in the artwork. The Hello Kitty mural includes: Wonder Woman Kitty, Batman and Robin Kitty, Iron Man Kitty, Hulk Kitty, Captain America Kitty, Halo Kitty, Hello Kitty "Bat" Signal, Sith Kitty, Spiderman Kitty, and Green Lantern versus Sinestro Kitty. 

Some Additional Sketches I made.

The scene is a cityscape at night. The signal will be silhouetted, and the buildings will be a flat grey blue or grey brown contrasted by a dark blue backing, not counting the trim which will likely be white or grey, depending, for the dream cloud. I forgot to mention that there are some other interesting features. There is also a Billboard with Welcome Hello Kitty 2011, and a Hello Kitty with 11 stars (for this year being 2011) 

Up Next: Hello Kitty Project Part II. (coming soon.)