Inspiwrit

I was originally working in an experimental stage in various mediums mainly using pastel and watercolour with the intention to produce a loose style of portraiture as with these watercolour portraits in the style similar of renowned living watercolour artist Charles Reid for inclusion into my Noir photo portrait book which I am hoping to publish in the near future. Then by chance when surfing through images for some inspiration I embarked on the work of an american artist who calls herself Blue rabbit whom uses Photoshop CS5 with several photos to achieve with layers and blending modes beautiful vibrant digital art pieces. The excitement of this new found medium with the ultimate surprise of how multiple photos will blend had me changing all my previous ideas within a few attempts of creating some amazing results. By working for a day on You Tube tutorials and studying different filters and methods within the software, such as the HDR toning tools, I achieved further enhancements which gave my work an extra boost of vibrancy and mood. I decided to purposely use photos which could include some part of the person whom I am portraying, whether it be a physical aspect of them or a scene which moves them in some way. also my final image on canvas must reflect the person’s character, their personality, secrets or dreams. I have been experimenting over the last week with my own photography and painting and here is a link to view the results Digital Art

The next process to the portrait is to prepare the canvas. The size of the canvas is also important to the portrayal. Large canvasses I use for big characters or mothers of large families with endless lifetime stories to tell, a smaller canvas is suitable for a child or a private person . The final photo is gridded and the large canvases are gridded also ,although the smaller canvas is worked to directly. Then the major points are sketched on using a pastel pencil which will blend in with the acrylic paint as lead and charcoal can make the paint muddy. After a light watery wash is laid where the major lights and darks are, I will then discard with the reference photo and then work from my own interpretation of the subjects character. The above work is of an Essex friend of mine, Laura whom has looked after my horses for 14 years, she has 2 personalities whereas she works in an office up town in the day and has a professional and smart appearance and then there’s her weekend persona where her life is the horses, muddy clothes and fun times to be had!

I have been continuing to shoot noir photos with my Canon 60d of local Essex characters to eventually be included into a forthcoming book which if becomes fairly successful , I intend to publish it as an annual and then maybe a website. This book which I have already titled “The Real Gems of Essex” will be initially published in Blurb.com to test the market. I intend to put a small advert in Essex magazines and local papers requesting people whom have an interesting lifestyle which can be included. So far I have gathered around 15 great characters whom I will interview in due course and embark on some kind of art work to represent their characters the way I see them, either in a painting, sculptor or hand built pottery item in the style of an ancient relic . These works will also be included in this book in a full page with their vibrant colours which will stand out against the Noir theme of this publication

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