This artwork is called ‘Push’ and it’s about leadership and accomplishing things. The elephant is pushing back the darkness, and all the other critters are following him.
The original was larger then this print, 36” wide by 24 tall, and is a pen and ink artwork with transparent thinly-pigmented watercolors. The white is an opaque heavy-body acrylic that Ty brushed on with a rigger, kind of a long signpainterly brush, and it was his undoing: After the scan was taken to create this print he kept working on the artwork for months, massively overpainting it and finally giving up and destroying the original as an overdone mess. It was never as good again as it is here, and it was a hard lesson.
But this artwork as a print has been successful; it catches people’s attention at art markets and the theme of striving and accomplishment resonates well with people.
The opossum in the foreground in particular catches people’s attention and Ty has made greeting cards, stickers, t-shirts and art prints out of that opossum alone. The opossum may have outstripped the artwork as a whole!
This print is 18”wide and 12” tall, glued and pressed to a hand-painted art board, then lacquered and brushed with heavy glossy acrylic medium to make the details stand out and give it that glistening effect.