Her Birthday

I didn't really know where this was going when i started, but as the sketch progressed i started getting a better idea of what I wanted. Unlike many watercolors that i do i wanted to keep the pencil lines and shades in order to give the painting a little more depth once I applied the paint.

And most importantly she really liked it.

TOTÒ

I was commissioned by a friend and owner of the Italian eatery to do a series of murals on the upper level which was a new addition to the restaurant.

Initially there was no real idea to what exactly the murals were going to be. After some brainstorming we decided to go with a big portrait of Totò himself, for those not familiar with who this is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tot%C3%B2

My idea was to keep the graphics simple, to go with the over all mood of the upper floor and having a fairly small space to dine in, I did not want to paint something that was too overbearing. For the triangular pattern in the suit I was inspired by a piece of furniture found in the restaurant and thought that using the pattern would be a great way to tie everything together.

For the 2 other walls, I depicted silhouetted and abstracted scenes from Puglia, Italy, the home region ofthe restaurants signature pizzas.