Como Koi Fish Watercolor Wallpaper Art Project
After painting three floral door art in Turkey and friendly Pitaya dragon in Antigua solo or mostly solo, I wanted to see if I would enjoy working with a team of artists, painting large murals.
So between 2017 and 2018, I worked on two community mural projects, the Treehouse mural and the Greenway mural in Minneapolis.
Fast forward to today.
Let's just say... I'm glad I've had this experience -especially at the design stage. On the one hand, I learned that I was able to work within the serenity of my own studio in the initial design and sketching phases.
On the other hand, working outside in the rain, in the sun, in the cold, ambushed by bugs small enough to confuse my ear canals for their new residence and side-eyeing the occasional suspicious street character, shaved my life expectancy by at least a decade.
So, maybe I'm putting that particular line of adventurous artistic exploration where it belongs: on the back burner - at least for now.
Instead, I opted to mostly take on projects where I can express my full creative potential where the roof is much closer to my head!
KOI GALAXY ORIGINS
Right now, my coping mechanism for accepting the fact that I'm happiest - when it comes to murals - whenever I'm able to work in a studio (doesn't have to be my own), has resulted in creating a couple of watercolor designs of mural inclinations, that look big, bold and colorful either as a final art print but also as a striking wallpaper design.
...Which surprised me - the good kind.
Apparently, the more creative surfaces and purposes I can wring out of a single art piece, the more inspired and fulfilled I seemed to become.
Koi Galaxy, is now a beautiful versatile piece that is able to transcend its origins as a watercolor painting inspired from haunting the walls of Como Conservatory. It can effortlessly adorn a number of products from tech to dinnerware. It's like the Little Engine That Could!
In all honesty, this is how the idea for Koi Galaxy first came to be. It was awful. I just wasn't the kind of artist that thrived on dramatic chaotic environments like outdoor murals and team collabs (more than 2 people) usually promises. That just doesn't suit me. Not at all.
Give me quiet and peaceful climes, anytime.
Update: One of the largest prints of Koi Galaxy. about 15” 1/2 x 28” 1/2 , sold on February 7th 2024, at the Boston French Library. It was super popular and received really good feedback but I only ever printed 2 samples of this design.
There could be (probably, mostly likely) plans in the works (In the far future) to offer it at the smaller sizes I currently carry in the art shop. However, that particular project lives on the back burner for now, awaiting its time. There's some serious post-production involved in that type of project and...I'm not ready yet to tackle it.
Check the store, email news and the blog for announcements with the search bar for updates about that work.
By the way, it's not the first time that I'm shamelessly taking inspiration from Como Conservatory & Zoo to articulate an idea or brainstorm.
Find out, when they are posted, how this amazing space fueled some of these other creative projects:
Como Zoo: 2017
All The Things: 2017
Destination Diaries Series: Tree of Life: 2018
Destination Diaries Series: Mystery Plant: 2018
As I update the old posts and republish them as time permits, it's possible that I'll reconnect the links but I'm not betting on it - it's best to use the search bar to find all my blog posts.
Have a question about this specific piece, about licensing, commissions or collaborations? Go ahead and contact me here.
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Public Announcement: This blog post is part of a collection of 354+ posts from my original Wordpress blog "Dreaming Into Being." I've now retired and migrated it to “Wander & Paint,” my new blog post at the United Wanderlust art shop. As time allows, I will be reviewing, condensing, updating and releasing the best of the posts. This may take a long time but they will be available again little by little.
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