Bringing the Colors to Life

The coloring phase has officially begun, and I’m feeling pretty good about how it’s shaping up. For this piece, I decided to take a more intuitive approach with color selection, steering away from directly contrasting colors on the color wheel. Instead, I chose hues that felt natural to the elements they represent—flames painted with fiery tones, wood with its earthy richness, and so on.

That said, one area I’m still navigating is the lettering. I expected it to pop more, but with the level of detail in this work, the clarity seems to diminish when viewed from a distance. It’s a challenge I’m reflecting on. Fine detail has always been my thing, but it does create moments where the composition might feel visually “busy.” I’m experimenting with layering and color contrast to strike a better balance, so we’ll see how it pans out.

I’m deep in the stage of work I love most—bringing everything together with color. This is where the piece really starts to feel alive, and it’s always such a rewarding part of the process.

On a more personal note, life has thrown a few curveballs lately. There’s a shift happening in my mental health support system, which initially rattled me a bit. I also had a little mishap with my medication organizer—it got jostled, and I missed a couple of doses. But I’ve sorted it out now, and I’m back on track. It’s a reminder to keep being patient with myself.

For this post, I’ve shared a close-up preview of a section of the piece I’m working on. I decided to crop it to eliminate distractions from the surrounding black-and-white areas so the focus remains on the work in progress.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for following along—I sincerely appreciate the interactions.

Title: Live Long & Prosper
Medium: Pencil
Dimensions: 22.9X30.5 Centimeters
Time: 4 Hours, 30 Minutes
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