Work
Giant Wave | Wishing Well
1
The
Painting
this project originally started with a single...
2
Giant Wave
while working on ‘giant wave’ i kept thinking loosely about...
3
Wishing well
wishing well was originally designed as a potential...
4
Connecting
when my client saw both designs, he wanted to keep...
giant wave | wishing well
Work
giant wave | wishing well
1 | 4
THE PAINTING
when i work on designs, i usually create large numbers of watercolor paintings first and later develop digital compositions out of fragments that feel interesting to me. sometimes a single painting contains several possible directions.
that was the case here.
both ‘giant wave’ and ‘wishing well’ came from the same source painting.
i gradually introduced different elements and pushed both pieces into completely different moods.
i posted them as two separate available designs, knowing whichever one got picked first, the other one would quietly fall away.
Work
giant wave | wishing well
2 | 4
GIANT WAVE
while working on ‘giant wave’ i kept thinking loosely about traditional japanese wave paintings, but in a much more abstract and fragmented way. i didn’t want it to feel illustrative or controlled. i wanted the movement to feel restless, almost unstable, like the shapes were continuously shifting against each other.
the stomach and ribs ended up becoming the perfect placement for that kind of movement because the body itself already distorts and stretches the composition naturally.
Work
They say a wishing well holds the weight of every silent hope ever cast into its depths.
WHY I CHOSE THE TITLE
the title of the piece is embracing my memories.
the key word here is embracing. the design isn’t about trying to fix the past or wishing things had been different. it’s about accepting that every experience becomes part of who we are.
some memories are joyful, some are difficult. some are simply small moments that stayed with us for reasons we can’t fully explain.
i tend to revisit my memories quite often because i’m slightly afraid of losing them. going back to them keeps them present.
for me, they are not something to move away from. they are something to carry with me.
giant wave | wishing well
3 | 4
Work
Embracing my memories
2 | 6
GIANT WAVE
while working on ‘giant wave’ i kept thinking loosely about traditional japanese wave paintings, but in a much more abstract and fragmented way. i didn’t want it to feel illustrative or controlled. i wanted the movement to feel restless, almost unstable, like the shapes were continuously shifting against each other.
the stomach and ribs ended up becoming the perfect placement for that kind of movement because the body itself already distorts and stretches the composition naturally.
Work
WISHING WELL
wishing well was originally designed as a potential cover-up project for somebody else, but for whatever reason it never fully felt right to them, so the design was never tattooed.
i kept the piece anyway. the idea behind wishing wells always fascinated me. throughout many cultures they appear again and again as places of hope, ritual, and longing. people throw coins into the water, make silent wishes, and leave parts of themselves there.
some people travel long distances just to reach them. i always liked the thought of these places slowly collecting years and years of human wishes, knowing all of our secret desires.
i think most people have made a silent wish into water at some point in their life, whether they truly believed in it or not.
Embracing my memories
3 | 6
Work
giant wave | wishing well
2 | 4
GIANT WAVE
the stomach and ribs ended up becoming the perfect placement for that kind of movement because the body itself already distorts and stretches the composition naturally.
Work
giant wave | wishing well
3 | 4
They say a wishing well holds the weight of every silent hope ever cast into its depths.
WISHING WELL
wishing well was originally designed as a potential cover-up project for somebody else, but for whatever reason it never fully felt right to them, so the design was never tattooed.
i kept the piece anyway.
the idea behind wishing wells always fascinated me. throughout many cultures they appear again and again as places of hope, ritual, and longing. people throw coins into the water, make silent wishes, and leave parts of themselves there.
some people travel long distances just to reach them.
i always liked the thought of these places slowly collecting years and years of human wishes, knowing all of our secret desires.
i think most people have made a silent wish into water at some point in their life, whether they truly believed in it or not.
giant wave | wishing well
4 | 4
CONNECTING THE PIECES
looking back now, that was probably the best thing that could have happened to either design.
what originally existed as two separate outcomes from the same painting suddenly became something much larger once they started interacting across the body.
the freehand section was what finally tied everything together.