About 7 years after one of the worst points in my life, I was beginning to grow out of it. I was sitting on some good savings, I was back in school, making friends and starting to feel like myself again. I could envision my future and it was no longer a place where I was just waiting for it to end. I was rising out of my own ashes and I was onto better things. This piece marked a prosperous time for me, where I was growing and learning to live with a hardship that befell me.
This is a straight drawing of model Liv Sage by photographer Tiggy Ara. I came across this image at this optimistic time in my life and saw what I felt; ascension, rising, moving on.
I saved the image, removed the background added a grid and got to work.
I especially loved this image because as grandiose and imposing as it is, it’s clean, simple, delicate. I was very satisfied with the interactions between the light and shadows on the left hand; shadows within shadows. And on the right hand, the minimal detail seems out of place on it’s own but with context, it fits right in.
The realism is real with this one.
This isn’t an original idea but I felt a real connection with the source image by Tiggy Ara and I wanted to give it a special title. So for this one, I went to the stars — the constellations to be precise. I’m not an astrology guy but I do enjoy symbolism and according to astrologers, we are in the age of Pisces right now. The next age being Aquarius, so with such poetic simplicity, how could I not name my drawing about moving on — Aquarius?