Light my fire

I finally got around to painting something new. I thought up the idea for it a while back, before we moved into the condo, and figured it would make for good bedroom art. But I hesitated, both because its too simple an idea for a canvas and because it may be a bit desperate for the bedroom. Like people who have lips or tongue art. 

But a few days ago, I felt I had to do something creative to shake off this sense of meaninglessness that I have been lugging around. So I returned to the idea and decided to execute it on paper.

A quick online search showed me (unsurprisingly enough) that others have already used the light-my-fire tagline for matchboxes. But no one had paired it up with swans. I thought it appropriate given their romantic connotations. Besides, I have a vague memory of seeing swans on matchboxes back home, and nostalgia is always endearing.

After drawing the outline, I ordered my first-ever gouache paint set; it is essentially opaque watercolor, which means that I can color over remnant pencil marks, and it gets completely concealed. I have also, of late, been noticing the virtue of using fewer colors and allowing for white spaces. So I tried to make that happen here, even though the painting is still colorful.