DAZED, 7" x 9.5", Oil on board, 2011

This is another transformation from black and white to colour.

1.I started with a Lightly toned gessoed board,, the colour of the tone was light cream, a mixture I derived from white, yellow ocher and raw umber in acrylic colours.

2. I start to sketch directly with a brush and oil colour slightly diluted, this is a quick colour sketch and I don't plan to spend more than 45 mins. So it's Straight sketching and colour filling as I go along.

3. I start by using a light colour of a mixture that consists of yellow ocher, cadmium red and white, I grey and cool this mixture with a bit of blue. I apply this mixture to all the light planes of the head-forehead Cheeks, jaw, chin....

4. Next I get my dark tone by adding burnt sienna and Ultramarine blue to the mixture above. I apply this to all the dark passages.

5. I then soften the edges between the dark and light passages. and this creates a more solid looking face.

6. I then accentuate the lights and add darker details like nostrils and eye lashes with the tip of a round long sable brush.

7. I then work on the hood by simply starting from the dark side and moving into the light.

8. Then I add the background with some warm and cool browns to create a hazy background to show he is dazed.

9. I just wanted to do this one quickly to capture the guys mood, one that truly caught my attention in a 453 bus last week. I think I finished it in 30 minutes.
I think these colour sketches are good to train one to quickly capture gestures in colour.

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!

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.

INFLAMED BLUSHING, 6" x 8", Acrylic, 2008

This was a rare opportunity, as I have noted on the original sketch because I must have been so up close to this guy but I sure he hardly knew it!



I have the developed the painting purely from the sketch. I really wanted to play with colour and texture, just being free.



I sketched him from London Bridge to Woolich Arsenal, that journey takes about 20 mins.

Red Head, 6" x 8", Acrylic, 2008

This is another sketch of a woman, I sketched her from Waterloo to London Bridge, Must have been the Jubilee line but I have no record of the actual line. What must have interested me was basically, her beautiful profile, it was an elegant combination of curves and angles.






I have made her have red hair as I cannot remember what colour her hair was but I like red haired models anyway, they are rare and interesting. Again, I worked on this one extensively from imagination but borrowed a reference profile from a magazine for some forms and colours.

Melanchonly, 6" x 8", acrylic, 2008

I sketched this woman from London Bridge to Greenwich, I had only 2 stops to capture this woman's features, it was one of the quick ones. Approximately 8-10 minutes, with people looking and the train in motion.............




To try and interpret this in colour wasn't that easy. I could only remember the fact that she was black all the rest had to be invented. This exercise makes me get to stretch my imagination a bit, something that I am not really used to.

Deep BLUE SEA, 8" x 10", Acrylic on canvas board, 2008

This is the second sketch that will come alive in colour. It is quite fun seeing this transformation.




I remember sketching this guy on a 469 bus form Woolwich Arsenal to McLeod Road, where he got off. His wife knew I was sketching him and showed it to him, he was fast asleep. She said she loved art while younger... I guess many of us did.

WATCH THIS SPACE

This is a new blog that I am starting today and would be a continous painting of people I have sketched everyday from my sketch books past and present. It would be a way of taking the sketches I do a step further. Hopefully people interested in purchasing the pieces would be able to. Faces are Powerful and I have sketched so many since 2004!


Hope I won't run out of steam.........