The other day my brother and his wife were in a shop looking for baby clothes. They came across a design printed on a bed frame that they fell in love with. It was a simple line drawing showing two bears fishing at a stream. They took a picture and asked me if I could recreate something like it for my nephew. bears_stream_orig-I thought the picture was cute, but a bit simple for my taste. When I imagined it in the baby’s room I saw more color, more energy and a story behind it. Therefore I ended up making a painting from the original idea. Using the same basic drawing, but adding my little twist.

bear_strem_painting

A twist that was actually the end result of a little accident. My brush fell out of my hand and delivered a nice brownish spot at the edge of a once pristine pond. By the time I got my rag to try and wipe it off it was set firm on the paper. After deliberating even starting over I ended up adding a fish as a punchline: he sure is the one having the last laugh.

bear_strem_painting_fish

For the paining I used acrylic paint on watercolor paper. Afterwards accented with colored pencil to deepen the colors. add contrast, dimension and life to the picture.

With love to Henrik!