Please contact me if you would like to discuss a portrait commission; I work in many different types of media ranging from pencil to charcoal, watercolour and oils.  You can even have a portrait ‘painted’ using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop!

I like to work from a combination of life and photographic reference…but nothing can beat a number of portrait sittings, where possible.  Commissions take a few months to complete….the larger the commission the longer it takes!

 

 

 

Development of a Portrait in Oils:

‘The Surgeon and the Crocodile’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The start of a very big commissions piece!

I am still at the underpainting, planning and developmestage and the client (Steve Mannion) has been to see it and is delighted with progress so far! Steve travels far and wide, often to remote areas of the world, with his charity Feet First Worldwide and so it is difficult to fit in visits to see the painting. Often I have to wait and until he is back in the country.

In this painting, we agreed that Steve should be the central figure and that the front of the canoe will go off the left side of the canvas and the back of the crocodile will similarly go off the right side. If the front of the canoe was spun around so that it was in the painting, then Steve would be partly hidden by his friend sitting in front. This is therefore the best plan and enhances the feeling of the unknown as it is impossible to see the boundaries involved; the crocodile was actually longer than the canoe. It just does not bear thinking about really.

I think it helps, when doing a commission that involves figurative artwork, to have some knowledge of human anatomy and some anatomical reference. I always have my skulls (plastic) to hand which helps me develop the face correctly. The lower plastic skull has numbers on to show muscle attachments whereas the higher plastic skull has some actual muscles and an ear put on using modelling clay which I did on a study day with the Medical Artists Association.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Development of a Portrait in Oils: ‘Mercy’ Feet First Project Coordinator (Malawi) Prints of this oil painting are available for sale at Art Of Giving with part of the proceeds going to the charity.                                      At this stage the painting is still more or less a tonal study with a bit of colour introduced. I like my work at this stage and often wish I did not have to take it any further! You can see I have added more Foundation White to the background to add a bit of contrast for the .

This is how any artwork starts...as a simple tonal study with some Foundation White added.