Lonely Londoner, 6" x 9", Oil on canvas board, 2009

This transformation was done yesterday from a sketch I did yesterday. this woman just sat in front of me like she was prepared for this.

This was tricky because I haven't attempted a three quarter figure yet and also with oils on an "Alla Prima" technique -It didn't give me my usual freedom, but this is a learning process for me too.

For this piece it was pretty straightforward

1. Give the canvas board a neutral grey background,

2. Sketch the figure in detail with charcoal pencil

3. Without wasting time I paint shape by shape with oil moving from top to bottom. The main things I note are the edges and tones.

4. Suffer when I get to the hand as my reference sketch doesn't have enough information.

5. I try to get back some drawing with the charcoal pencil but it is in vain.

6. Try to play around with haphazard strokes to unify the whole piece.

7. Have to stop because the oil is so wet all over, nothing seems to stay on again.

The Casual Onlooker, 9" x 12", Mixed Media, 2009

This transformation was very fresh in my memory, I sketched this guy today on my way to my studio, so immediately I got to my studio with his image still fresh in my mind I go on to produce this transformation thus:




1.I painted the gessoed card with an acrylic warm base of cadmium yellow, burnt sienna and white

2. I sketch main features with burnt sienna, I love the contrast.

3.I then start adding the basic flesh tones, first starting with the mid tones, the darks, then lights.

4.It is looking balanced value wise now, need to add details......


5.I almost end it here, but with just acrylic, I don't feel I have captured this guys spirit, he looks too casual.

6.I spice it up with some coloured pencils

7.Still lacking enough spice, I work into it to get back some drawing lines and darks with my Black Biro.

8.Then finally I add some highlights with oil pastel sticks

9. He almost still looks casual, I have to stop or I'll end up making him even more casual.

FROSTY , 8" x 11", Mixed Media on Grey Cardboard, 2009

This is another transformation, I sketched this guy just last week. Immediately I got into the bus and I saw his face I said to myself, "I'm not missing this one" So I positioned myself adjacent to him and sketched him, this lasted for only about 9 minutes after which he disappointingly had to get off at his stop.




I have gone about this one thus:

1. I sketch the face and vital features withe a brown Tom Bow dual brush marker.

2. I then use soft pastel by Winsor and Newton to bring out some basic tones and colour.

3. When there's enough pastel all over the piece, I retain the main drawing marks with the oil base pencil.


4. While using this black oil base pencil I try my best to give the piece some vibrancy and sensitive strokes- things I really like in lines.


5. I then introduce some more detail with my graphite H pencil, it is hard and can produce etch like lines to bring out forms without obliterating the pastel below.

6. I then introduce sanguine oil base pencil to liven up the black dull lines


7. Finally I add some highlights with soft pastel again and call it quits before further destruction

8. This whole piece is done in high tempo with a lot of whacking and hitting to produce a spark of life, something I strive to achieve when transforming these sketches so they won't become static transformations but still retain some of the vibrancy of a sketch!