Description
This canvas marks a moment where I truly let myself go crazy in the studio, diving headfirst into a really intense, time-consuming process of texture and discovery. Created as a background layout for my children’s book, *Wackadoodle the Poodle*, as a silly and fun spot where they are laughing and about to begin their lives as friends, this piece is heavily inspired by the raw, structural energy of Jean-Michel Basquiat. I built this world up over countless hours—scraping down the paint, building it back up, and engraving deep line work directly into the heavy blue layers.
Because it served as a page design for the book, the canvas is absolutely packed with symbolic details and playful Easter eggs. If you look closely through the busy blue grid, you will find an array of my signature crowns and towering ladders, which represent hard work and the steady climb toward success. Balanced against that raw street-art look are moments of pure whimsy, like the delicate flowers bursting along the bottom margins.
It is a piece I am deeply attached to and honestly want to keep for myself. But as every artist knows, there is always a price for a work that holds this much of your time and soul.