All righty! Here is the final, assembled image: Creating Balance. I included all kinds of concepts of balance - vastly simplified so my brain wouldn't explode. There is a balance of colors, a balance of shapes, a balance of composition, a balance of elemental forces, a balance of critters, etc. etc. I didn't put a *whole* lot of thought behind the concept itself, other than the fact that everything had to balance, and that it had to have shiny bits. And much to my delight, the scanner actually did a nice job of capturing them!

On the critters: I used Polychromos pencils over a watercolor base, then went back in with gold acrylic paint and some light-colored paint pens. I used foam tape to attach the critters to the black circles, and then more foam tape to attach the circles to the background.

Dragon detail
Koi detail
Phoenix detail

The background is black "color aid" paper that I had left over from my Halcyon days of college (note severe sarcasm). I used an old toothbrush to spatter acrylic paint onto it to simulate a very crowded universe full of stars.

Lastly, I used little shiny baubles all over the place, but also strategically placed so as to aid the overall balance of the composition.

Original artwork: sold

Prints:
8x10 inches not available
11x14 inches for $30
16x20 inches for $50