Big Issue Seller

It's amazing I found time to do a painting / sketch while I'm in the middle of a show. But remarkably I did. There's this Big Issue Seller on the walk to the Thames from Waterloo Station that I see every morning when I catch the train to work in the weekday mornings. Always struck me that he cut a heroic sort of figure. I imagined a figure looming large over the London skyline. Here he is I think still a proud figure, perhaps weather beaten and resilient looking. 

Reference is as ever critical. I really do need to come out of my shell and talk to people if I'm ever to do these portrait sketches. Thought he might think I was some kind of middle class wierdo. Took these on a long lens from across the street one morning. Ultimately they dictated what the sketch would be. The area is full of these Victorian era rail bridges and the arched tunnels. Used on to frame him and set him off the background.

Trinity-sur-Mer Lady

So. Finally on holiday with my family. Been aching to do a little painting just for the exercise. Then this lady appears at the campsite pool. Aisling later points out how wierd this was of me later on, but I surreptitiously take a few pics of her. she reminded me of how women used to dress poolside when I was a kid. Thought she'd make a cool subject for a character study painting.

Got these back to my tablet and did a preliminary sketch in ArtRage. Mostly based on one photo but drawing a hand detail from another.

Working against a neutral grey for this study, I drew colours straight off the photos. A little lazy I know but it helped to quickly establish the temperature of the skin tone, especially given the cool light from the pool below. First pass went under the line drawing.

I knew I did not want an outlined illustration, so I worked over this embellishing details in a very rough way, painting over the drawn lines and erasing them, adding rim lit edges and tonal edges that worked better against the neutral background. Added some context which I eventually pushed back.

To photoshop where I added a little grain and gradient to the grey. First stab as seen below is always too much. Slept on it and knocked it right back to the study as it stands image at at the top of the page. Took about fours in total.

Self Portrait sketch

Have been wanting to do one these for years. It's my first stab at a self portrait painting. Used the computers' camera rather than a mirror - which, if you'll excuse the pun, upon reflection, was not a great idea. Colour values kept shifting which made me constantly second guess observations - and the auto-exposure did the same for tones. Still, I enjoyed the exercise. Did this in ArtRage and took around an hour.