Ballookey in Mike's

Lotsa photos on this post!

First up, here's the collaboration Aya set up for me before I did anything:



I stenciled in a moon and starry sky. I had already done the other pages first, and I wanted the color of this one to be as heavy as the rest.



There is something I want to add to this image, but I think I'll wait until the book comes back around to do it. How's that for a cliff-hanger for you? ;)



While Mike's book was here, I really felt like using spray paint and stencils, so I cut this koi fish stencil based on a sketch I did a while back:



I had more than one idea how I wanted to use it, so I went ahead and did it a few ways. One, in a yin yang arrangement with itself. I used matte black for the background, glossy black for one fish, and Poison Green from Montana for the other fish. Jebus, I love Montana spray paint! So silky and vibrant! Expect to see me doing more of this in your books!





On the facing page, I used an old technique for painting water waves that I learned from a book on airbrushing. I never was any good at airbrush, but I always wanted to use the technique because it's so stupidly simple. So I gave it a try, then stenciled a lotus floating on the pond.


Most of these pages have some details that I added in marker. In some cases, the spray paint made the details of the stencil blurry so I sharpened them up by hand. In other cases, I just wanted to add a bit more.



Both pages together:



Next, I wanted to see the koi in copper paint. Same stencil, but completely different feel:



I reused the lotus stencils to make these shapes in the corner:



On the facing page, I felt I'd done the fish enough, but I wanted to have the same colors and look, so I made a stencil of a bird, tree branch, and clouds in the background.


This bird came out very fuzzy, so I went over a lot of details with marker.


Both pages:



Then, I stenciled the bird again in Dolphin blue on a blank page for Andrea to work with. I also stenciled it on our garage door. (eep!)


This book is on it's way to Andrea today.