BLUEDDAH

"Blueddah" 18x24 Acrylic, Sharper Marker, Gold Leaf on Canvas. This Blue Buddah, or "Blueddah" piece was created as a gift for my uncle for his 50th Birthday. I started the piece by sketching the face of a buddha onto the left side of the canvas. I knew I wanted a lotus on the right side, so I made that another focal point. At first I started trying to go for a more realistic style, but it was just not coming out how I had intended. I just naturally have a very bright, blocky, bold and whimsical style. So I decided to not force anything that did not come naturally and went along with how things were progressing. After I had the basic shapes blocked in with the colors I had chosen, I slightly rendered the Buddha, and left the flowers and leaves more blocky. 

I then inked the entire canvas in the zentangle style, and added some inspiring words throughout. Also, this was the first time I had ever used Gold Leaf. If I remember correctly, I just added some modge-podge glue to the lotus petals and then lightly pressed the gold leaf to the surface. It adhered pretty instantly. This is probably one of my favorite larger paintings that I have ever done, and my Uncle Billy LOVED it!