I was told that I really should enter some items in the Kelmscott Annual Show this year, and that meant I had to create some pictures for that - the majority of my work, outside portraiture commissions, being illustration and therefore not really suitable for an 'Art' section's categories.
I chose to do a picture of Aishwarya Rai in Devdas because I felt like some nice rich colours and exotic costuming:
I moved her right arm, which was originally outstretched, so that I could fit the composition neatly in the frame I was using. It was tricky, mainly because of the weird lighting in my reference, and I don't think I succeeded quite as well as I could have wished, but I don't think she actually looks deformed, so ...
I painted the ground around the painting with a metallic gold paint, and then framed it with black cardboard as a matte. The above is a digital reconstruction of that, to save my trying to get a good photograph of the frame. I was tempted to gold-leaf around her for maximum bling, but I didn't think it was worth it. =P
Here are a couple of in-progress shots:
I used manicure dotting tools with my Copic Opaque White and Ecoline Metallic Gold for the patterned fabric - much easier than working with a brush for those tiny dots!
Winsor & Newton watercolours and Series 7 brushes on Moleskine watercolour paper. 12-15 hours overall.
This netted me a first prize, which was nice, although I'm not entirely sure why.... I think overall this is a painting that benefits from being seen from a distance. Stand back from your computers!
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