Penguin Merchant study 2

Colour pencils, acrylic, acrylic markers and carving on wood
25x20cm / 10x8"
2024
 
The penguin merchants from the south invented the Penguin Ice-Cream Maker machine. 
 
They are shrewd merchants, and only care about making money and keeping their Mount Gelato. 
 
Sadly because of climate change, their Mount Gelato is melting in the south. 
 
That’s when they reach out to The Ice Queen to negotiate a piece of land in Northlandia for them to live. In exchange, they will keep their mountain-size ice-cream maker running around the clock to suck out the hot air.
 
It’s a win-win situation.
 
Northlandia gets to stay cool. 
 
The penguin merchants migrate to a new home to build another Mount Gelato.
 
This is another version of the penguin merchant that migrate from the south to arctic Northlandia in search for a land cold enough to rebuild Mount Gelato. 
 
Instead of a calculator, this version features an ancient abacus. 
 
Both the background and the penguin’s head (hat?) echo stylised ice-cream. 
 
The gold refers to his love for money. The golden sycees (or yuanbao) are the fancy currency used in ancient China. 
 
He’s wearing super fancy red boots—Haven’t decided which boot design, so decided to leave both. I love how casual I can be with studies.
 
 
✵✶✺
 
This woodcut painting is carved and then coloured with the highest quality artist pigments. Archival professional-quality paint is meant to last over 100 years. I spray the artwork with three extra layers of UV protection.
 
The work is framed in a beautiful ornate super sturdy solid pine wooden frame. You have a choice of black or white frames. 
 
This piece is part of my “21 Day Challenge” project. During 1-21 November 2024, I created one small woodcut drawing per day. Each features an animal character inhabitant from my imaginary arctic country “Northlandia.”