Kitty Hawk

MORE AIRPLANES.

LCAD’s illustration department was invited to make art for a Macy’s event with the theme of “American Icons”. Here’s my piece, inspired by the Wright Brothers and the dream of flight.

Funny/awful story about this painting:
The event invitation came during finals week, and after six other projects, there was one night left to do this one. 3 AM the night before this was due, I was a nervous wreck. I'd slept five hours over the past two days, I wanted so much to give up and rest. The wonderful ~FateLikesTeal talked me out of that, but finishing on time seemed impossible: with a messy thumbnail and no color scheme, I was painting without a plan. Worse, without any willpower. 

While struggling to get the background colors right, I spilled my coffee all over the carpet, mopped it up, then, furious, smeared the coffee-soaked paper towels on the illustration board. Doing that? Made a workable sunrise color transition.
Aaaand after that, the rest of the painting came together. 

AS AWESOME AS THAT WAS I never want to do that again...be kind to yourself everyone, don't try to pull off miracles when you're 75% coffee and 0% sleep.


28 x 22 in., gouache.