Acrylics 101

I love simplicity, but it became apparent the past few weeks that in order to really understand colors and  shape, more exploration is needed.  It's something I'd been aware of for a while but had been struggling to actually get it down on paper.

Dandelions

Mushrooms

LadyBirds

A long way to go, but at this point, everything is a learning curve.

Simplicity

Portrait painting is always relaxing. I spent the last few weeks simplifying colors and exploring a few techniques. 

Porcelain Girl

A4 wood - Acrylics / pencils

David Downton has inspired me since college. Initially finding his work through Creative Review, I've been entranced since.

I had a few attempts here but thought this porcelains girl came out quite well. Delicate and fragile looking.

Christmas 1994

Gold Ring

A4 wood - Acrylics / pencils

It'd been a while since I'd last tried a portrait and felt this worked our pretty well.

Although this took a little over 2 hours, I'd made the mistake of thinking her eyes would balance naturally. The left side of her face is exactly what I was looking for.. The right side, not so much. 

Planet Peel - Plants

A4 wood - Acrylics

Recently running into a lot of good ideas, but having the ability to properly execute them is becoming a struggle.

It's ok though, at this point concepts mean more to me than execution. This idea of wrapping plants sounds fun and gives me a lot of ideas to follow later on.

Planet Peel - Drafting

A3 Pad - Acylics / Oils

Just a rough draft testing different stroke techniques. 

The "PP" visuals had all been quite smooth, which is nice, but too simple. To really connect and believe in this environment there needs to be texture and emotion.

Blue Martin

A4 wood -Acrylics

Drawing female portraits has long been my favorite subject - always relaxing, always aesthetically pleasing, but I'd realized that it had been limiting me.

Usually starting with a basic pencil sketch, I tried here to frame the image straight away with acrylics. Seemed a little off to begin with, but overall I was happy with the outcome.

Working the net I came across a picture which I felt would be myself in later years. Generally if someone says "Hey, that guy looks like you!", we either dismiss it or slap that someone around a little. 

Sekkaido - 2012

F20 wood - Acrylics

I was pretty content with the final piece. It's no Matisse but for a first attempt I was satisfied.

I'd gotten wind of the competition 2 weeks prior to the deadline and so needed to work fast. Choosing an F20 format and a limited pallet would cut costs and save time.

Following the theme of "Planet Peel" I looked for vibrancy and movement and also immersion which foreground and background action.

If I'd had more time before the deadlines I'd have spent more time on the pencilling, as looking back, there needed to be other elements such as flowers or insects to make the context clear.

Planet Peel - Concept

A4 wood - Acrylics

As a kid, Doug TenNapel (creator of Earthworm Jim and Neverhood) had a big influence on me. The "planet peel" concept comes from many places, but the kind of vibrancy and creativity of the EWJ series has a lot of bearing on this type of work.