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
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| First, I painted each canvas with a Pthalo green trim. |
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| After painting the trim, I filled in the night sky with Pthalo blue. |
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| Next, I proceeded to add Cadmium yellow where needed. |
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| Here, the painting is just about finished aside from a few details. | | |
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| This is the finished artwork hanging inside the baby's room. |
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| Yours truly, presenting his finished artwork. |
