I wasn’t really sure how I would merge these two paintings. I know I wanted them to be back to back, so I flipped them accordingly. The colors were also not where I wanted them, so I adjusted them to their current form. When I put them on the same canvas there was a gap between them which had me stumped. At first I filled it in with some solid colors that made a clear separation between them. But that was just too simple and boring. Then I finally figured out that I could just merge them and have them interact with each other. I first had the backgrounds blend with each other. As I kept working I finally came to the realization that I could have both versions of Akemi back to back with their clothes appearing on each other’s side of the canvas. Then the idea of having hair strands move from the shy Akemi to the hardened Akemi came to my mind. Luckily the idea worked out. There was still something I felt was missing though. That’s why I decided to add the soul gem between the two Akemis. Behind the soul gem I wanted light to be emanating from it, but when I darkened the left side it looked a lot like feathers so I changed the original concept to be a wing motif. I think this version of both of them together looks much better.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE