"Young Days"
In her youth, the days could stretch on for what seemed like many. Genets take to the trees easily and from an early age thrive on exploring the forest in all directions. Topaz envied the earnest and solitary work of the hunter and ventured ever further day by day in pursuit of game, but spending so much time away from village life and the other girls didn't help her popularity. This never bothered her enough to stop, and she could never stay stuck at home for long anyway. The forest calls to Topaz, and she answers!

When I started working on this piece I wanted it to be a sort of "baseline" for future art of Topaz, Mazia, Malech, and all the other villagers of Luo so I could give them some narrative. Her story in particular has gone in all sorts of directions in my head, but rarely does it make in onto paper. She's been a willing model for all kinds of sketches and technique studies, but not nearly often enough does she get a chance to do her own thing. This is a young Topaz, when her problems were relatively few and she could spend all day out in the jungle. Even better, her best friend Mazia would be waiting to catch up at the end of the day! Village life is a little more . . . complicated--but Topaz deserves to escape now and then.

Watercolor, Copic marker, pen on 9x12" Bristol board