Summer with Galeria Rosa

When Galeria Rosa contacted me about creating a series of illustrations for its inaugural show, the first thing I thought of was ‘summer’. I was in Hong Kong at the time, and it was already really hot. I couldn’t really think of anything else because of the heat, so my ideas all revolved around summer activities and how I would like to cool down.

The illustrations would be turned into two-colour screen prints, so I chose an orange and blue colour scheme. Orange and blue are summer colours; orange for the sun and heat, and blue for clear skies, water, and cool relief. Also, they are complementary colours, so naturally they go together. The circular shape in each illustration represents the sun, and gives visual balance.

Here are the rough sketches I started out with, and what the final screen prints (framed) looked like.  Sometimes I like doing thumbnails in pencil on paper first, and sometimes I like doing them digitally.

Lush
When it gets really hot, I’m sure everyone would love to just jump into a pool to cool down. Or get a cold drink. This combines both. That refreshing feeling, that’s what this is about!

Pop
My idea for this was basically being really grateful/hungry/thirsty for frozen desserts. Especially when on a beach.

Glide
I often went swimming at an outdoor pool while I was in Hong Kong. Since I usually went in the late afternoon, the sun hadn’t set yet and I could clearly see the ripple shadows on the pool floor while I was swimming. This illustration was inspired by that visual.

Punch
When brainstorming for the series, kayaking or canoeing was one of the summer activities that I wanted to do an illustration on. Eventually it turned into this fruity row boat. It was partly inspired by my first year of art school. One of the courses was basically a workshop class, where students could experiment with different materials and equipment, such as sculpting, carpentry, and welding. One ‘infamous’ group project was to build a boat out of wood, culminating with a boat race at a bay nearby (in Florida). The project was judged on creativity and of course, functionality (whether the boat actually floated or not). My group’s boat was painted to look like a watermelon slice, and I wore an outfit to match (helmet painted to look like a watermelon, and red shirt/shorts). I won one heat, but ultimately, did not win the race.

Chill
This is pretty self explanatory - opening a fridge for that nice cold breeze when you feel really hot. I’ve done it!

Wave
I decided to do a soccer illustration because at the time, the World Cup was coming up. I also really like water and waves (a lot of my artwork involve water), so I combined the two. To me, this illustration is about the dynamics of a bicycle kick and a ocean wave. They are both really beautiful forms and have a lot of power behind their motion.