Riding a Wave of Success

Meet the Winner

It may be polka dots and cheetah prints that delight Maki Otani’s nail art clients at Lulu’s by Travis Parker in San Diego, but it was the “Great Wave off Kanagawa” that captured the attention of NAILS’ panel of judges. “I chose this painting because Hokusai’s art is very familiar to me since I grew up in Japan,” says Otani. “It has always been my favorite historical masterpiece.”

It took Otani about 10 hours to complete the nail. “I found finishing the nail very challenging because I had to squeeze the painting into such a small space while keeping the size balanced,” she says. She used four shimmer nail polish colors on the background and blended them in gradually. “Using a tiny brush, I painted the waves and Mt. Fuji with acrylic paint, and then I used white acrylic powder and monomer on the white part of the wave so it would look like it was popping out.”

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