Otterly at peace - testimony and thanksgiving

This is my thanksgiving offering to God for 2020.

Why otters, you may ask. Not many people know the story behind the significance of otters to me, but I decided that as a testimony to God's goodness, I'll share it publicly for the first time. 

As you might know, I run Hedgehog Communications, a copywriting agency and in the past I would worry incessantly over it. Would we get enough work to feed the writers? It was a real source of stress for me.

In 2018, I was praying for Hedgehog one day. And as I was asking God how this agency should grow, I had the image of an actual animal hedgehog in my mind. Then suddenly out of the blue, it was like someone changed the channel and I was looking at a mental image of a whole bunch of otters instead, the ones in Singapore. I told God, amused, "God, we're hedgehogs, not otters leh."

But the image persisted, so I thought, wait, is God really telling me something about the otters? As I focused on the image of the otters frolicking in the sun, I sensed that God was giving me 3 messages:

1) The otters in Singapore developed from just one or two, survived against the odds and grew to abundant numbers because food is aplenty. Sure there are rival families but there are more than enough opportunities to go around. I needn't worry about jobs.

2) The otters thrive because they're family. The hedgies are like a funny family in a sense. As long as we look out for each other, we will be strong.

3) The otters are so beloved and protected in Singapore, nobody dares to harm them. As long as we follow the direction God leads, God's protection is on us.

After that, I felt such an overwhelming sense of assurance. I was like, "wow, God, you love Hedgehog that much?" It was a personal message of grace and care to let me know I needn't worry so much - He's got my back.

Shortly after that vision, Hedgehog was flooded with so much work that we almost couldn't cope, winning project after project, even jobs that we wouldn't typically have won. Similiarly, this year has been a difficult year. Many clients held back projects or had budget cuts. Agencies became so desperate for jobs that they started lowballing and undercutting each other, so the playing field became even more competitive. Even up to the end of November, I was fretting over the fact that our numbers for the year were looking pretty dismal. 

Then, in the past 2 weeks of December, we suddenly experienced a deluge of jobs. Every other day, I was informed of a new project we'd won, sometimes beating out more than 20 other competitors. We were met with so much favour at every turn. It was incredible that in the year of Covid-19, we could have done so well. Certainly not by my strength. I felt quite guilty for fretting, for doubting that God would come through for me. He has never failed me yet.

And hence, this painting. I decided that every year end, I will draw otters as a thanksgiving offering to God and as a reminder of His provision. This year, I chose this reference photo because it spoke to me. In a year of when I often felt harried, it spoke of the rest and peace we find in God. 

******

Regarding the painting, this one kinda took a life of its own. I wasn't sure what colour scheme to go with, so I filled in a purple and yellow underpainting first using PanPastels, with a green background. This is only my second time trying out Velour paper and gosh, I'd not realised how wonderfully soft it is. It feels so luxe making marks on that velvety surface. Also, Velour really grabs the pigment, so much so that an astonishingly little amount of dust is created. I don't think I've ever done a pastel painting with so little dust.

Then as I filled in the fur for the first otter, I noticed that it was taking on a very cartoon look, instead of looking realistic. I tried various things - toning down the highlights, blending the colours more, but nothing seemed to work.

Then I thought, maybe I'll change up the colour scheme. Since the background is green, maybe adding green to the otter would unify it. That didn't work. It just made the otter look dirty (somehow green makes things look muddy).

So I thought, ok maybe green is the wrong colour. How about purple? So I used magenta to draw over the green and now the otter REALLY looked radioactive like it came out of some comic book  🙄 Perhaps it's the fact that the otters had eyes closed that gave it a cartoon effect, since I'd always been able to drawe realistic eyes to add to the overall impression. I also discovered that it's much harder to draw details on Velour than on Pastelmat. It's almost impossible to get pastel pencils to work on Velour.

By this time, I realised that this was one of those paintings that was determined to go its own way and it would be easier to go with the flow than to fight it. So I started filling in the fur of the second otter, and then the rest of the foreground.

Here's the final painting. Velour paper definitely creates a much softer look, which I think is absolutely lovely for animals. I like the end result a lot more than I thought I would. There are always surprises in creating art!

Thank you Lord, for a year of grace and your bountiful blessings.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28