TAHO!

Does this painting look familiar to you? Go back and check out my "A hard day's work" sketches and you'll see that one of my sketches has actually come to life! I've chosen to paint my taho man as my first painting for my manual labour series. Why? Simply because it's my favorite! I love taho! When I was young I used to eagerly wait for the taho man to come by the house for my special cup of taho. The taho man knew that I always ate my taho with a special straw, which is odd because everyone else ate it with a spoon. Up to this day, I still love taho, but I no longer need my special straw.

I was incredibly frustrated during the process of finishing this painting. After attempting to create a bright and colorful background, I realized there was too much going on, so I decided to slowly break it down to simple blocks; however, my taho man still remained lost in the sea of colors. With my frustration, I actually left my painting untouched for weeks. When I came back from my hiatus, I looked at my painting and wondered what went wrong. The bright colors, that used to work so well with me, no longer played it's part. Right then I knew exactly why. When I was painting this piece, I was in a sad place, but I refused to allow my feelings take over my art. This time I decided to delve into my emotions. I finally decided to paint over the confused mess with dull yellow. The new solid color subdued the painting, which fit with the body expression of the taho man. I wanted to convey the excruciating physical pain the taho man was experiencing just for small earnings. In my deepest relief, I was able to successfully bring out the main subject and portray the real emotions of the painting.