Voyage imaginaire

a commissioned painting

Hi there lovely people! As promised, I'd like to share a new painting with you today. I shared some pictures of this work in progress before and here it is! This painting was my first ever commission piece, quite a challenge...

Voyage imaginaire (Imaginary travel) Mixed media painting on canvas 25,5" x 21" (65 x 54 cm) © 2013 Laly Mille

I painted it for some dear friends, whose guest room has the coolest vintage floors ever: they're made of old boards from train wagons and have a gorgeous red/brown color with white painted numbers and signs!

So, first I took pictures of the floors which I printed on A3 paper and they served as the basis for the painting.

Then I asked my friends to give me a list of words, elements and colors to work from. Their list included "the passing of time", "travels", "vintage yellowish papers", "brick red", "misty"... I sat with that list for a while, let it sink in for a few days, went back to it from time to time during the process... I let it inspire me and melt into my own imaginary world.

To add to the travel theme, around the end of the process I asked my friends about their dream destinations and wrote them in white on the painting, together with poetic thoughts and positive intentions.

I titled it "Voyage imaginaire" (imaginary travel) and I hope it will achieve just that: take them away, from time to time, to far-off imaginary landscapes, dreams and memories...