Shayla Maddox

Ingredients: acrylic, beach sand, crushed sea shells, crushed glass, phosphorescent pigments, varnish, water & light on canvas.

Nami is the word for Wave in Japanese. :o) The "sky" is made with thick layers of sand and shells. Already today, I've had 3 people ask me if that's the sun or the moon.

I'm leaving that one up to you.

A story: One day I had a vision to do a wave painting, although I wasn't exactly sure what that would look like, since I hadn't really done waves before. Squiggly lines, yes, but no waves. I sketched a few things out and quickly had a concept for something that I was really excited about. The sketch was put in a drawer for later, until my birthday rolled around, when the fam and I were eating at THE BEST sushi place in Orange County (that's right) and I had another idea.

Yada yada yada, I suddenly had a project to do a painting for Gen Kai (Dana Point), my favorite restaurant ever, which I've been going to for basically half my life. Of course, my immediate thought after I got home and the shock and excitement wore off a bit was: My wave painting!! How perfect.

Ta daaaa:

Nami now hangs on the wall in the lobby, the first thing you see when you walk through the door. There's bright filtered sunlight in the room all day, and then dim, romantic lights in the evening. Perfect to show off the light reactive fun. I equipped them with a blacklight flashlight to show anyone that's interested how brightly it glows.

I have to say, in my totally biased opinion, that it looks AWESOME there, and I'm absolutely giddy about this whole thing. Sushi and Art! Together!!!

If you'd like to see Nami in person (!!) stop by Gen Kai.

(949) 240-2004‎

Their weekday lunch specials are incredible, and the sushi bar is second to none. The chefs are amazing, the fish is the freshest, and the whole place just rocks. I'm truly honored, and completely thrilled. I have a feeling we'll be spending more time in Dana Point in the future.

Yay!

Labels: gen kai