"Media Overwhelm: Mountain Monkey Art
Previously I told my story about how I started painting again. Now, I'm going to tell you why I decided to focus on animals. So here goes.
I'm sure most people had a hard time during the lockdowns, and in the hard times, people's true light came to the surface. That was the case for me with my partner at the time and family members. Even though I love the beauty we all have in our faces, I struggled to find inspiration. I guess I didn't want to spend too much time on things that reminded me of all the arguments that led to wasting time, energy and headspace.
I think we all longed for some unconditional affection and support. Still, we all failed to understand each other for some reason, so I focused on things that brought me joy. And decided to focus on animals as subjects for my paintings. I used to have a dog, and I remember that whenever I was upset, he could sense it and come for a cuddle as if he knew how to change my mood. I enjoyed watching Samson (that was his name) as he would react to the postman and passers-by or even a house fly buzzing into the living room. How he interacted with me when I came home led me to conclude that if you spend enough time with your dog, you will soon see glimpses of their persona. This inspired me to collect a series of animal references All through the lockdown. I will use these references to create a collection of small paintings that will be exhibited somewhere in London and available as prints soon.
I began with Megan, my ex-partner's cat, who I think didn't like me very much as she scratched and bit me every chance she got.
For every painting, I begin by staring at my subject long and hard, deep into their soul through their eyes, just kidding. It usually takes a couple of scrolls on Instagram to find a funny animal video or photo that inspires me. I quickly scribble my idea on scrap paper. Once I've got my vision, I play with proportions and expressions with a couple more detailed sketches, and then the fun starts on canvas. When it comes to colour, I kinda have an idea of what colours to use, even though it may change as the painting progresses. I sometimes use felt-tip pens and paint over my sketches to get a rough idea. Below I will show you my process of what inspired me to paint and how I did it.
Endless scrolling
Diving in deep into one of my biggest distractions, I scrolled long enough on Instagram to find this mountain monkey chilling in a hot spring.
Photo By Ben Torode
“looks so peaceful”
The initial sketch for my Idea of “Finding Peace”.
This Idea occurred to me at a time when everywhere I turned, all I could hear and see was just noise on the news, gossip and judgement. I remember that all I wanted was a little peace of mind. I wanted to Escape!
I plugged in and let it all out on paper and canvas.
“Looks a bit raw at this stage - had to continue to see where could take me.”
Time to whip out the canvas!
So here I went for the 30cm by 30cm Classico 2 by Gerstaecker. I sanded it and applied a couple of layers of white gesso before I started adding the paint.
“Time to start mixing those paints.”
THE FINISHED ART PEICE
After a few weeks of painting and letting the paint dry, it is finally finished below, you can see a short clip of how it looks. Check it out and let me know what you think.
During the lock-downs and while people constantly tested my good nature, I felt I wanted to escape from what was happening at the time. On one of those days, after hours of constant scrolling on social media, I found an image of a snow monkey from japan. It looked so peaceful, and it inspired me to create a painting of what I was feeling and a gesture of how I escaped from my surroundings. I plugged in my headphones and began to paint. Here is a brief insight; enjoy!
