Canada bound

Slowly but surely getting prepared for our trip to Canada in July.  My Niece is getting married in Ajax Ontario on the 27th.  All of our family were invited, but the way things have worked out it will only be myself and my two grandaughters, Jessica & Niamh who will be going.
The silhouette is of my sister, Grace and her husband, Herve.
Looking forward to seeing them again too.

Claire

As a working caricaturist, I am well used to exaggerating certain features on subjects.  This watercolour of a little girl called Claire is, I believe, correct in all proportions.  The colour, however, has been boldly applied and exaggerated.
The soft tones on a child's face are very subtle in their movement from warm to cool.  I decided to forget all that I had previously learned about subtle watercolour washes.  Sometimes these bold experiments work, other times they don't.  Little Claire's grandmother loves this version of her image.  I am quite fond of it too.
Again it is the eyes, (The windows of the soul) which are the focal point.  As long as they have plenty of life in them, the other features can be treated with a boldness that you would not normally use.  Even though I have used strong juxta-positioned primary colours in what was essentially, blonde hair, it doesn't detract from the focal point, which is her eyes.

More Scottish castles

I had a couple of comments about Scottish castles.  They are wonderful venues for weddings.  I couldn't find any of my old photos of Broomhall Castle nears Stirling, but I have published this photograph here, with the hope that the photograph's owner doesn't mind.

Broomhall Castle is just a fraction in size of its close neighbour, Stirling Castle.  They say that money is short in this country, but I can't begin to imagine what the cost would be to hire one of these venues for a wedding!
The grandest castle that I have worked in has got to be Edinburgh Castle.  I was working as a Silhouette Artist for a Scottish Business promotion in the castle's grand hall.  The first minister for Scotland, Alex Salmond was the host.
I remember that gig well as it began very strangely.  Edinburgh Castle, like Buckingham Palace in London, has a member of the armed forces on sentry duty at all times.  On that evening I walked all the way up to the massive front door without seeing anyone on duty.  There is a smaller access door within the main door.  I found this unlocked, so I continued into the castle itself.  It was a long walk up the cobbled road to the Grand Hall in the castle's ramparts, but no-one stopped me and asked me who I was, what I was doing and what was in my briefcase.  Very strange for a high profile event.
Anyway, the gig went well.  Alex Salmond's reaction to his silhouette cut was, 'Is that what I look like?'   Mmm - maybe he has fairground mirrors at his house.  :-)

Together

This was a watercolour I experimented with a few months ago.  I titled it 'Together', which I think you will agree is quite apt.  Again it is minimalistic and loose to a point.  The three visible eyes have lots of detail in them.  The loose look of this is painting comes about because the areas surrounding their features has been treated quite boldly in a wet in wet technique.  Also, I have dispensed with the idea of adding any skin tone to either face.  There is a nice curved line running across the painting which defines the girl's forehead and cheekbone.  Someone commented on a website where this was on display that the painting is almost heart shaped.  That was unintentional on my part, but that idea does add something to it.

Castles with attitude

I was working at a Scottish castle wedding today, drawing caricatures for a lovely young couple. Great day, nice weather, a free bar and fantastic guests. I have performed at this castle four times now. There are many hidden gems similar to this, dotted around the country. Castles are becoming increasingly popular for wedding venues. This particular castle is very close to Stirling, the site of Wallace's greatest victory. The wedding cake was ceremoniously cut with a massive Braveheart type sword. I had some free time as the wedding party took there seats at the top table. A small brass plaque with an engraved inscription caught my eye. I just had to have a read. It said - 'In 1682 on this spot - nothing happened'. Somehow, I don't believe it was a genuine artefact!

'Reflection' . . . a study in light.

 

I was blown away by a photograph by Ruth Archer recently.  It was bathed in light even though the main figure was almost completely in shadow.  This study of reflected light reminded me in some ways of the Venetian paintings from centuries ago, (Especially the biblical subjects) where there appeared to be a hidden light somewhere in the centre of the painting throwing a warm glow upward.  In this photograph of Ruth's, the sunlight is bouncing off a glass table top and catching the gentleman's face from underneath.  I kept the watercolour version of Ruth's photograph nice and loose; separating the warm and cool colours on his face and splattering warm greens into the cool blues in the foreground and background.  My favourite part is actually his forearm and hand.  A deep violet skin colour is something you would never expect normally, but I feel it works here.

Green eyes

Meet green eyes.  subtitled  'The girl with the world in her eyes'.  All focus was on her features in this minimalistic painting.  No need for face shape, background, or skin tone.  Her hair is just hinted at as she looks over her shoulder.

I tried to indicate the roundness of her eyeballs.  They are just glassy orbs after all.  You need to be quite brave to use color in the white area of the eyes, when everything else is startlingly white.  this started me off on a series of minimalistic paintings.  This first one is my personal favourite.