2013 Front Room Portrait Show - Emily, Sophie and Cody

Here's 3 portraits I did for the 2013 Front Room Portrait Show, Emily and Sophie are my nieces and Cody is a friend of mine. They are available for purchase through my Etsy store. If you are interested in having your portrait painted you can contact me through my facebook page for a quote.

Emily

Sophie

Codie

Update on The Little Mermaid

I just thought I would post a picture of my professionally scanned painting (admittedly the aquamarine is a bit more intense than the original but it's pretty close). This painting is now available for purchase through my Etsy store I also have giclee prints available at 8 x 10" $35 and 12 x 16" at $65.

Here she is :)

The Little Mermaid - Nymph Painting Process 1 of 3

So here it is as promised the first of 3 posts covering the painting process for my 3 submissions for the Artorder's Nymph Challenge.

Process 1 - The Thumbnails

This is where I work out my ideas (plus an anatomy study) . There are a few elements of the story that I considered addressing including the number of oysters attached to her tail (there were 8). I mainly focused on her admiring the statue of the prince in her garden and considered various poses.

Process 2 - Experiment

Here I experimented a little with colour, wash and masking.

Process 3 - Refinement of Ideas 

this is where I started coming closer to my final design - this time including a friend. And here's my reference for the whale.

Process 4 - Rough

Again here I had 2 final book cover concepts to choose from. I was going to go with the left thumbnail and started creating a sculpture I could work from for light and shadow reference, however the clay I ordered was delayed and I was about to start house-sitting so I chose the one on the right and used this image for referencing the face of the Little Mermaid. I was also influenced by this artists' underwater photography - the next best thing to seeing a real mermaid!


Process 5 - Cover Rough

This is where I worked out the basic layout of the cover with title placement (again I deviated slightly from this as I felt the whale was too obscured by the text).

Process 6 - Detailed Pencil Drawing

Here is where I was finally able to let loose on the picture, putting all the necessary elements into it - bubbles, coral, fish, whale, beautiful girl. And in case you were wondering about the flowery garland on her head it is in reference to Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid;

At last she reached her fifteenth year. "Well, now, you are grown up," said the old dowager, her grandmother; "so you must let me adorn you like your other sisters; "and she placed a wreath of white lilies in her hair, and every flower leaf was half a pearl. Then the old lady ordered eight great oysters to attach themselves to the tail of the princess to show her high rank. "But they hurt me so," said the little mermaid. "Pride must suffer pain," replied the old lady. Oh, how gladly she would have shaken off all this grandeur, and laid aside the heavy wreath! The red flowers in her own garden would have suited her much better, but she could not help herself: so she said, "Farewell," and rose as lightly as a bubble to the surface of the water.

Process 7 - The Finished Painting
 

When I got to this point I was so glad to have it finished I forgot that I didn't have a scanner on hand as I was house-sitting at the time and with not having a car I caught a bus and a train to get to the most convenient office supply store to get it scanned.

This is how the painting looked after some colour correction and levels adjustment.

And this is how the picture looked once I had placed in the appropriate setting for the "Book Cover" theme as part of the Artorder's Nymph Challenge. (On reflection I wish I had submitted the simple white border version without the title treatment as most people only submitted their pictures that way. However the competition was so talented I don't think it would have made much of a difference if any).

Since this competition I opened an Etsy store and received my first contact from a customer wishing to buy the original. At this point I realised I had best make my painting more presentable and set about cleaning up the border and adding the gold frame as I intended. I also added some iridescent paint to add another dimension to the painting.

I am currently in the process of getting the painting properly scanned so that after it's sold I will have a decent copy of the original. I will be offering prints of this painting once I receive the file and confirmation of print costs, so keep an eye out for that. If you have any questions feel free to contact me on facebook.

NEXT TIME.... THE WATER THIEF!

Social Networking

Hi everyone. Just letting you all know you now have a place to buy my art it's through Etsy and here's the link. At the moment I only have originals for sale but I am in the process of researching print options, if anyone has any suggestions of places to get the work printed I would be grateful for the help.
And Facebook... I have been resistant of having an art page through Facebook because it feels like I'm blowing my own trumpet but if I want to sell some art, starting a Facebook page is a step in the right direction. Here's the link.
ENJOY! :)

Nymph Artorder Challenge

"Take this challenge and turn it into something useful for you. Strive to create a piece that fits into your portfolio. Take on the challenge, such that you learn some great lessons and propel your work to a new level. Don’t be meek. Take risks!" 

http://theartorder.com/nymph-artorder-challenge/

With this statement I was challenged to tackle illustrating a nymph. And so I researched nymphs, finding nymphs everywhere, from the Faroe Islands where they were called Selkies to Japan where tree nymphs were called Kodama. After traveling around the world a few times I decided to return to Greece were the term "nymph" was originated. The following illustrates 3 different types of nymph; Oceanid - nymph of seas and oceans, ‪Eleionomae‬ - marsh naiad and the Asteriai - nymph of the stars. All three are watercolour and gouache on A3 sized 300gsm watercolour paper. Over the next couple of weeks I'll post the process it took to create these three images.

Old Watercolour Painting of House

I did this picture about 3 years ago for a commission request to paint a picture of a guys house that was being sold. He wanted something special to remember it by. For more pictures click here.

New Art in Progress - The Little Mermaid

Here's something new I started for an online challenge http://theartorder.com/nymph-artorder-challenge/

The Little Mermaid WIP