Oils on canvas-When I was asked to do this I knew it was going to test me. I hadn’t painted many animals at the time and was excited for the challenge, I love dogs so painting one was a joy. The client and I didn’t want to do a plain painting we wanted to have my own style on it, making it different, special. Not going hyper realistic and keeping the painting loose, while keeping the likeness of dodger. With the background jumping forward overlapping in parts was the end result I planned and they were very pleased with the result.
Oils on canvas-I’d wanted to paint a person for some time, from choosing the lighting, taking pictures from different angles and having different expressions on the face. I painted many faces before but not in this scope and as the centrepiece of the painting so saw it as a challenge I hadn’t faced yet (excuse the pun). There was a lot of pressure with this painting as it is of my now fiancé so wouldn’t be the only one eager to see its outcome. I wanted to get the likeness and realism across and this took a lot of time but I like to think the outcome shows this. I particularly think the dark red/burnt umber hair against porcelain skin came across well.
Acrylic on canvas-I liked creating hands in different positions and wanted a project to showcase this. I toyed with different positions and how they were moving settling on a hand pinching a bubble while the other is falling into the background after releasing the bubble. Trying to show this by having the left hand darker and with more shading than the right. Maybe one day I will return to another project on hands.
Acrylics on canvas- I was asked to commission this painting using the picture below as reference and removing the background with a turquoise looking back. This was a very difficult painting due to the cat being all black and photos being a bit old so I was using many different angles of pictures and videos as reference. After having my rough sketch together of how I wanted it to look, I started with the eyes so I could work from that knowing it will be the defining feature. Once I was happy with this I started picking out features such as deep purples and maroon, reflections on the silky fur and once I had the base fur down. The details that made him standout came into play, Playsuch as the very long whiskers, white hairs on the eye brows and finally white hairs on the torso. I went back and fourth for a while adding features that I couldn’t see before and I can say that I am happy with the final painting. I wanted realistic and I feel I 81% let’s see how they get on now achieved this, so I was very happy knowing the client was happy with this too after showing the finished product and seeing her reaction. Animals and people that you don’t know are difficult due to you only seeing them in media when it comes to commissions, so making sure every detail that makes them, well them, is vital. If a small thing isn’t right it throws the whole painting and realism off. Someone who knows and sees the animal or person all the time will be able to see this. Maybe not knowing exactly what is off but knowing that something isn’t right.
