Jenny, Jenny: Girafficorn

Who can paint a masterpiece in 5 hours? Apparently I can. My ability to procrastinate has resulted in a new record. This is both good and bad. Good because now I know that I have the ability to create something I am actually proud of hours before it is due, bad because now I know that I have the ability to create something I am actually proud of hours before it is due. No - that was not mistyped, it is good and bad for the same reason. I'm afraid that my creative irresponsibility will only get worse now. It is true though, that adrenaline is the magic ingredient that I require to accomplish anything.

This painting would have been a real toughy. Rusty is a good friend from college who lives in Kansas City, but I haven't seen him in a few years and I had never met his wife-to-be. I would have been clueless as to what to paint if it weren't for the wedding announcements that Rusty made. I'll post it later, but from these pretty things I learned that Rusty's favorite animal is a giraffe and Meagan's is a unicorn. Perfect. I had a tall canvas lying around - I'll make a girafficorn! Here's how it went down:

Start Time: 7:39am - day of the wedding.
End Time: 12:39pm - same day (keep in mind I showered, got ready and packed for my trip in here too)
Soundrack incase you care: Neverending White Lights, Future of Forestry, Abandon

I did a sketch during my monday morning meeting - so I knew what direction I was going to go. At 7:39am I threw it on there with my trusty red china marker.

Then I quickly threw down some paint, blocking in sections of shape and color covering every last speck of white. In art speak we call this "underpainting".

Then I started refining the image, asking myself some hard questions and making some tough decisions. Do I like this color for the sky? Isn't this head too big for the body? Should I take a shower now or wait until I'm done painting?
I start adding and taking away, holding my breath with every brush stroke wishing I had an appleZ to hit just incase (that's undo). But every mistake makes room for an improvement. Right?

Sorry there's not more explanation on this, but I was in a hurry. I didn't have time to stop and take too many pictures. But in the end I am REALLY HAPPY with this one, which is rare.