Justifying My Thursdays

In my studio, the painting of Aine in my previous blog entry happens to be sitting just next to a painting of a little girl from my next book “No One But You” by Douglas Wood, which publishes next May.
The juxtaposition of the two got me thinking about the differences and similarities between my work from life (Aine), and my work derived from photo reference (the little girl).


Sometimes I fear that the amount of time I spend in the life room is a bit of an indulgence. Sure it’s good to get away from my studio and to hang out with other artists, but can I really justify spending at least one day every week away from my desk?
On the whole I feel the answer is “yes”. Not only is the life painting hugely enjoyable for me, but I think it is certainly informing and improving my illustration technique too. The comparison of these two pictures proves the point.
My brushwork in the illustration is freer, and more confident and economical than it used to be. In the past I would have had a tendency to paint every hair on the girl’s head and to very clearly delineate every fingernail.
Now I indicate the hand with the more dabby and hopefully more telling brushstrokes that time dictates I must use in the life room.
In very basic terms, I now understand a great deal more about the mixing and application of oil paint than I did when I did the Gulliver paintings four or five years ago.
The illustration is still a good deal tighter than the life painting and that’s fine, but it’s good to feel that after twenty-five years in the business, that the core training I still do may be paying off in a meaningful way.

PJ as Photographer

I took plenty of photo's when I was down at Bantry for The West Cork Literary Festival last year. This unposed shot I took of a woman reading whilst pearched on the harbour wall, struck me as capturing some of the spirit of the festival, so I asked the organisers if they could use it somewhere.
And here it is on their website.
So I guess that makes me a published photographer.
I must add that to my CV.
This year's line-up for the festival is as impressive as ever, and there is a great vibe in Bantry during the festival, so I can certainly recommend it to anyone who might be interested.

Another Painting from my School Days

Another rummage in an attic turned up a few old student pictures that I had all but forgotten about.
Here is a watercolour I did at school of a good friend of mine called Dermot Morrisey. It was a very early effort using photographic reference.
Dermot was a tremendous guitarist and a very funny guy. Somehow he ended up in a career in law enforcement.

Melisande, reference polaroid.

Here is an interesting reference polaroid I came across the other day.
It was the very first time I worked directly from photographs in my illustration work.
The model is a good friend and fellow illustrator, Siobhan Dodds.
I remember I was particularly keen to make the fall of the draperies convincing, but I didn't have access to any costumes back in the mid-1980s, so I made do with a sheet.
The painting is all the better for that. I had to invent details of the dress and Melisande's hair, and the whole of the town was created from my imagination.
Sometimes it's best not to have extensive reference photos, you can end up leaning on them too much. Finding the perfect balance between photography and imagination has been an ongoing challenge for me over the years.