Melachonly II, 6" x 8", oil on gessoed card, 2008

Another transformation. Some of the colour shifts are not believable- anyway that's because I am working form memory and experience, no reference, just a love for the human face and the blessed opportunity to paint it!





This is my first in this series of paintings in oil.

Love at first sight, 8" x 11", mixed media on watercolour paper, 2008

This is another transformation, a bit different from the norm but all the same a transformation from the sketch to a finished painting.




I sketched this girl way back last year and from my pad- I have written on it-"One of my best shots- I don't always get a good model on the trains but this girl was amazing, she kept that pose all the way from London Bridge to Woolwich Arsenal, a journey of about 20 mins.




To execute this transformation

1. First sketched the girls basic features with my carbon pencil (Wolffs)
2. Then I played around with the essential strokes, patches and blobs of watercolour, blocking in the essential tones
3. Then I draw into it again with the carbon pencil
4. I introduce white gouache, this is due to my lack of patience with the watercolour medium, the gouache gives me the instant lights and is far more forgiving.
5. Then I return to watercolour this time using tombow markers as my watercolour for some vibrancy and spice.
6. I then finish off with some sensitive touches of carbon pencil and white coloured pencil

I notice that part of the painting border that I used to mix the watercolours seemed to work well as part of the painting, so I decided to leave it all in as it is without cropping.

The day after, 8" x 10", Acrylic/Biro on canvas board, 2008

I sketched this guy recently, the 3rd of November as my sketch book reads, so I was still able to capture a bit of his feel in this transformation.






I have gone about this painting in a really systematic form, to help viewers understand my mixed media technique and also to help myself. I also need to understand a bit about my working procedure, which sometimes is quite haphazard and needs a bit of structure for future referencing and teaching purposes.




1. The canvas stained with a neutral colour that suited his overall skin tone
2. The sketch done with a brown fine permanent-ink marker(PITT Artist Pen-Brush nib)
3. Tones added with brown tombow felt markers
4. The details sketched in with black Biro
5. The acrylic added in various strokes blobs and patches just to cover the entire canvas
6. The drawing recovered with a Biro sketch
7. Addition of texture where necessary, using Winsor and Newton Galeria Heavy Structure Gel
8. Re-painting the whole piece with more definite strokes blobs and patches
9. Addition of Biro drawing for some details
10. Final highlights in acrylic with gel and Biro

Stay tuned for more!

The Capped man, 6" x 8", acrylic, 2008

Another transformation.....................I worked a bit lightly here than in others, using the acrylic in a wash like manner.