a new project - 'elephant'. 100cm x 100cm

So I was commissioned back at the beginning of summer to paint a square piece of an elephant in vibrant colours. This was very exciting for me as I have never done animals before, but unfortunately, with other commissions, college work and various summer holidays I have only got round to starting it now. 

Here is the planning and progress so far...

this was the starting point - I printed out lots of pictures of elephants and various styles from which I could gather my ideas and come up with a composition and colour palette




in the end it was this picture I chose. Despite liking the tusks visible on some pictures, the face of this elephant was just too beautiful not to use for this piece!



Using a website I found, called pixlr, I edited the photo, mainly using the unsharp mask tool, which provided me with vibrant colours which would help when it comes to painting the elephant in an abstract, expressive manner



The piece is by Gayle Curry, found on pinterest. I chose this technique to emulate, obviously changing the colours to fit that of my edited picture. As mine is more close up, there will probably be more depth and detail, but the overall effect should be similar.



And finally...the progress so far! All I've done is drawn it up but I do looking forward to starting this, a completely new experience for me as a painter.

college summer work sketchbook

Here are some reproductions I did as part of building my summer sketchbook in time for college in two weeks

All images are A5

Jen Joaquin

Jo Fraser 'Sun in Edinburgh'

Aaron Coberly

commission number 2 - finished!

Finally finished my second commission, a reproduction of Cristina Troufa's 'Pedestal', done in acrylic and using a roller and a light hand to achieve the patchy background.

The lower step of the stool caused much stress and it wasn't till I returned from holiday with a fresh eye before I could sort out the perspective! The proportion was all off, but perseverance paid off!

Let me know what you think!

2nd commission progress: arms and face

2nd commission beginning stages : a reproduction of Cristina Troufa 'Pedestal' 2011

Following my previous commission finished earlier this year, I have been asked to reproduce this piece by artist Cristina Troufa. My piece is 70cm x 100cm on canvas, painted in acrylic.

my lovely parents kindly bought me an easel to work on pieces in the corner of the living room!!

in order to copy the picture to the best of my ability, I gridded the printed image and then scaled up onto the canvas. (I don't have a long ruler and so had to use a large piece of wood to secure straight lines on my grid!)

the drawing starts to come to life

close up of the drawing. I outline the drawing in non- water soluble pencils, as I added a wash over the drawing and needed to make sure the pencil colour would not run with the watery paint 

beginning the painting. I'm very happy with the vibrancy so far. However, the white i used to mix in the colour for the wash was rather watery and did more to thin out the mixture than to lighten it, making brush strokes visible. I will have to go over these darker areas to solidify the background colour

A2 final piece. 48"x72" canvas. acrylic and bitumen. 12 hours.

day one - as you can see i accidentally painted the wrong fingers at first!

the set up

there are bits purposely done in a rougher style - this is to add to the theme of flaw and perfection, enhancing the FLAWED aspect

my previous piece making an entrance!

almost there!

hands

this piece is approximately 180cm in height (haven't measured it sorry! just going on my what i think it could be compared to my height).

it is done in acrylic with black outline in bitumen paint (used to paint fences for example; it is gloopy and quite fun to trail along an line)

the hands on the far sides are partially unfinished - this is to reflect the theme of Perfection and Flaws, obviously linking to flaws. Also to save time for when i do my final piece!!