Of all the Valentines day artworks Ty has created the blue-footed boobies is possibly the weirdest but also very well received: It’s worth an internet rabbit-hole to look up the blue-footed booby mating dance. The courtship ritual is wacky but the birds mate for life, so it’s deeply romantic.
Originally the artwork had a sea-green background but it just didn’t pop. Ty finally decided that reality is boring and used the complimentary color to the boobies blue feet. That rich bright magenta background saved the artwork and it’s been a fan favorite for a few years now.
The original was pen and ink with transparent watercolor but Ty fixed it so much with heavy acrylic paint that it can now be considered an acrylic painting. It sold almost immediately, which is always gratifying to an artist! Ty glued and pressed this print to a hand-painted craft board, added calligraphic strokes of clear acrylic gloss medium to give it depth and finally lacquered it to give it that glow.
