The Escape, 2022. Working title "Flight"

The forest smells of wet earth and spiderwebs, with the pungent scent of woodsmoke wafting past. These trees are different, so of course they smell different when they burn.

A campfire twinkles among the trees. Is that a shelter, or is it to conceal the firelight? A family huddles beside the fire, shivering as if it is much colder. Something terrible has happened.

In a moment that is only possible because of the ones which led up to this one, the strongest of the clan makes his decision.

🐚
We have not yet seen what they are fleeing from, but we will.

This was the last painting I did in 2022. I tried a few things I haven't been brave enough to do for a while, like mixing cartoon outline and rough painted grass. I think it worked better here than in Kunihoka. 2022 was my most artistically productive year to date, with 17 completed paintings in the Elsewalker series alone.

This is one of the pieces I have had printed, and getting the colors to render agreeably was really challenging. The gentleman at the print shop spent so long working on the print with me that I had several more made to help make it worth his time. 

The Hylozoist is a long-form digital project I began in February 2020. Each painting tells a story, and each painting tells another story when viewed in context. Also, each painting can be followed to the next painting in the series if you follow the most interesting thing in the scene.

To see more paintings from the project, click here.

, Art , The Hylozoist