Two Colour 'Studies'

I'm not sure how to classify this pair - they were both done in much the same vein as the black and white pieces - scrap pieces of cardboard, A4-ish, acrylic over initial pencil sketches and quite stylised, but rather than work over the usual white gesso base, i used a flat block of colour, one orange one a pale blue colour and THEN drew, THEN painted. . .

The results are maybe a little more finished looking to some degree than the other small pieces I've been doing, particularly the rather warm looking orange piece which features the return of Emm's oversized wool cardigan complete with 'Watchmen' badge. the original orange basecoat can be seen in the 'halo' and behind much of the other details.

The blue piece, which looks by comparison rather cold is completely different. It's less stylised and probably the closest to realism I've come in any of these Emma pieces so far - So the two combined kind of showcase both sides of my work I guess. The stylised Expressionist side, and the lesser showy side which is all about being precise and which I dip into much less. . .

Anyway. Enjoy.

Coming soon, an all singing, all dancing, all Puffin blog. Okay, there may not be singing and dancing, but there will be puffins. . .

emma, #3

oil on canvas, framed

. . . and i never frame anything. this was the third large-ish painting - basically life-sized, the first close-up below is the EXACT size - i did of the lovely emma after two colour pieces specifically FOR her to choose from, before giving her both.

this one i did for myself, and though the three are very similar i like this one best partly because there's a little more feeling in it somehow and i think i'd fnally gotten a grasp of the pale fleshtones and blonde hair which i'd initially found slightly awkward after years of painting the reliable contrast of dark hair and light skin.

granted a little artyistic license means both are a little darker in the painting than the subjects own hair and skin, but. . .

i love this piece, i'm proud of it and happy with it enough that i put it in a frame. granted it's a bastard to photograph and the close-ups are a better representation of the colours than the first image, however. . .

it paved the way for everything that's been coming lately. the drawings, the 'ode' series and other stuff in the works that you'll see. soon enough. . .