Commissioned Paintings
The Painting Process
I find that working on a series of paintings at various stages at once works really well for me, often having six or more works in progress.
It keeps each painting feeling fresh and new, I’m always excited to get to the next layer. The paintings hang in my home where I can study their process on a daily basis.
1. Composition planning. This involves a photo shoot of the subjects. Then laying out the composition, grid work and shapes outlined.
2. Chalking. The canvas is bought and prepped with coats of primer and sanding. The image is then chalked onto the canvas.
“Blue skies ahead” – at stage 3 – Tonal Values.
3. Tonal values. The painting then starts to take shape being lightly painted in a layer of sepia tones.
4. Colour blocking. The painting is given its first layer of base colours.
5. Layering. The whole process starts to slow down now with the layers of paint needed to great realism. My eye takes me through the image to what lies beneath each layer in order to get depth.
6. Detail. The final stage of the painting involves a stronger layering system of every detail I want to bring forward. The translucent layers now really give body to the work, at times adding an almost three dimensional view.
Each stage is completed in a month, allowing the oil drying time between layers. The completed painting is then hung for at least three months to harden before varnishing. So as you can gather from this, it may be around twelve months or more before a painting is ready for sale.