When I get a brief for some work, the initial stage is to discuss the concept and come up with some ideas. The better ideas get made into miniature paintings on canvas paper which I send for approval. These 'paintlets' as I like to call them are matched to fabric swatches and other samples I've borrowed, and help set the stage for the actual work....here is one ......its going to be a big canvas....30 x 40 inches....I adore painting on big canvases.
The next stage is to sketch out on canvas. When its this big, I divide the paintlet image into grids and draw into corresponding grids on the canvas...this ensures that I keep the composition in proportion. Its painstaking work but I put some music on and the hours just fly by.I drew this one out listening to Citizen Cope Clarence Greenwood Recordings. .....twice over.
This canvas is now ready for painting.
I always start off by covering the entire canvas in paint...roughly matched in colour and tone..and that way I can build structure into these poppies. First is the background.....pale pink to start with. I used process magenta, great brushfuls of titanium white and mixed them on the canvas.
I am going to be making big sweeping brush strokes on the petals so I need to preserve centre of the flower as this is the bit which will be painted last and will have all the detail. Keeping it simple, I paint it in with phthalo green and crimson, with some cerulean blue. This way, I shouldn't lose it while I'm filling in the petals.
Time to turn to the petals (and change the CD....now listening to an old Santana album)....and get bold with the brush. I loaded some magenta, permanent rose, crimson and ultramarine onto my palette, draped the fabric sample over the side and turned the music up. Two Santana albums later, voila.
Next stage will be to start focusing on each petal one by one.......(and also remember to take photos!!)
Posts
2 comments:
Sue and Maddy, love the secret fairy stars, LOVE your work, will link to you today, thank you so much. Check my blog for real thank you.
Sarah (aka Muddy Red Shoes) xx
Hello, I found you on Muddy Red Shoes blog, and just realised that I have been here before through Gretel, anyway, thought I would say hello this time.
Its nice to see another fairy duo, I have a sosf partner as well, my son Toby, he made a lovely xmas decoration for our partner.
Good to read about and see your work process. I work fulltime freelance as a commercial illustrator, and when I am painting i listen to the radio, and if its a really big one, say an artwork that will take a solid 3 days to paint, I often get a story cd from the library. I can look back at work I painted years ago and remember what I was listening to at the time of painting.
I will visit here again, come and say hello to us, our blog is not about my work but mostly about Toby's jewellery, and other creative things he/we do.
Bye for now!
Penny.
Post a Comment