"Pink Zebra" ACEO

Watercolor and ink on bristol paper - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" (SOLD)

I was in the mood to do something detailed but small so I decided upon an animal ACEO.

For those of you that don't know, ACEO's are miniature works of art, always measuring 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".

My original idea was to do a black and white portrait of a zebra's face (using just a technical pen). But upon completion, the drawing looked way too plain and was about to get ripped up and thrown out.

Then I remembered Don Gray's comment in my "Quadruplets" post about doing what the artwork is telling you rather than what you want to do.

The white of the zebra did not pop like "it" wanted so I went ahead and painted the background all black. Now everything looked dark and depressing and "it" screamed for color! So again I gave the artwork what it wanted. I add several watercolor washes, choosing pink for shock value, and it was finally done.

This isn't one of my strongest works of art but it looked unique enough to share with everyone on my blog.