The Long Ride Home acrylic painting

I have been so preoccupied with painting on non traditional surfaces such as cow skulls, walls, recycled materials and the human body, that I had forgotten to share with you my most recently completed painting on canvas. Oops!

So without further adieu:

"The Long Ride Home"
12"x16"
Original acrylic painting on canvas
by Chelsea Rose

This painting is the first in a series I plan to make involving placing my strange creature ladies in fairly mundane places/doing fairly mundane things. Such as, this first piece, commuting home on a train. Other ideas include waiting at bus stops, eating at a restaurant, working an office job, taking a bath and so on. I have sketches of many of these ideas at the ready, I just need to buckle down and begin to pump out paintings for this series.

Now, since I am a fiend for work in progress photos I will share the creative process involved in the production of "The Long Ride Home." Enjoy!

It all began with a  rough concept sketch in my drawing book. I felt confident enough with it that I went ahead and projected my sketch onto to canvas and proceeded to transfer it (using an india ink marker) while adding more dimension and detail.

 I then began to add the first layers of color. I hadn't done a color study for this painting so I was making up the color scheme as I went along which was mostly fun, but a bit nerve racking at times.

By the time I went through with my 2nd layer of color I had made some big decisions about the interior of the train car as well as the outside sky/cityscape. My favorite movie of all time is a Studio Ghibli animation called "Spirited Away" and if you are a fan of the film, you should be able to tell right away that I recreated my own interpretation of the iconic red seated, wood interior train. If you have yet to see this movie, you must go watch it. Now! Seriously…
I also changed the sky to a dusky/sunsety affair, while pushing the city scape farther back.

During the final layers of color I added small details like her leg hair and shoes.

And to cap off these work in progress photos, here is a nice wide look into my lil art factory.

I think my next painting in this new series of mine is going to be one of my creature ladies eating a bowl of ramen at a lil restaurant.

Here is a lil sketch of the ramen painting concept. Next step is to select a canvas and get to work projecting my sketch onto it so that I can begin to paint. I will keep you posted on its progress.

Much love and light,
-Chelsea Rose