I completed this commission for a wonderful client a little while ago and, thankfully, I remembered to take some progress shots along the way.
As you can see in the first photo the initial step in the painting process is to draw an outline of the basic shapes of the subject onto the canvas. There are lots of ways to do this and on a large scale work such as this I prefer to use a projector. The canvas I used was linen, cut straight from a large roll I have in the studio at all times. Sometimes I will use a polyester based canvas that has been designed especially smooth for very fine detail artists. I then staple the canvas to the wall or to a large board. Some artists like to work straight onto a stretched canvas but I prefer to stretch my work after I have painted it.
Each painting is different, in this case I chose to start by roughly blocking in the black background. This helped me to get a feel of the pieces layout, size and composition more quickly. Working dark to light I then proceeded to block in the leaves and slowly build the form of the flowers. Once the block in is complete each layer of paint is then laid down with more and more detail, taking time to study carefully the light and shadow of the piece. Colour, of course, plays a major role in accomplishing the 3D effect of any realist painting and I particularly love working on a painting that has dramatic contrasts.
Whilst you may not notice a lot of difference between the last two photos this is where all the extra time and effort pay off. It is here that a painting can really come to life. I work meticulously for hours and hours glazing colours over different areas of the work, picking out highlights and really shaping the form. Like they say ‘It’s all in the detail’
The completed painting is removed from the wall or board, rolled and taken to the framers for stretching.
To give you an idea of timing, this painting (85 x 103cm) took over a month to complete and this excludes the time it took to photograph the subject, design the work or send it to the framers.
If you would like to commission something special please feel free to contact me
