An old (yet young!) school friend of mine posted a photo of her daughter and her best friend on facebook. I liked the composition against the stark background.
The girls live in Namibia so I couldn’t really ask them to sit for me so I did the next best thing and stole the photo! I had never attempted a portrait before so decided to go for it big style by painting it on a canvas 594mm by 841mm (A1), the first iI had attempted that large.
Unusually for me I did a detailed drawing on the canvas, then painted the background first using my fingers. Not only was this fun but it gave an artex type texture to the background just like the adobe wall they were stood in front of. It took a while for this to dry and provided a challenge for my art teacher who had to find somewhere to store the picture for a week or two in a very small classroom. For the girls faces and hair I resorted to more conventional tools.
When this was completed I confessed to my friend and she loved it. I had a print made by Redcliffe Printing which I sent to her in Namibia. Even the 16 year old girls loved the picture too.
Comments
There are currently no comments on this article.
Comment