21/100 Portraits: Painting Akram Khan for PAOTW
Following a short break from painting portraits I had the opportunity to take part in a truly special experience painting in the company of Christabel Blackburn, winner of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020, and all the presenters and judgementals of Portrait Artist of the Year……as well as 100s of other artists all over the world!!!
100 Portraits Challenge: 1-17/100 Portraits
A few weeks ago my daughter encouraged me to do a 100 Art Project so on the 10th March I decided to begin a 100 Portraits Challenge using gouache as a good way to practice and develop my style with this genre and medium. This had nothing to do with the Covid19 Lockdown we’ve since been subjected to! I started the challenge purely for the reasons I will tell you immediately, and I would’ve done it anyway. Nevertheless it has kept me happily occupied during this challenging time for all of us.
Punching Resistance in the face and getting back on track
So I just got done scraping my new artwork after pyrographing it and cleaning up my workspace in readiness to start my favourite part of the process – painting! However, I find myself needing to pause a minute before I dive headlong into colouring and happily lose myself in it – hoping this isn’t another ploy being used by Resistance to stop me…and I’ve had a lot of Resistance to contend with in the last few months.
The Greek Collection: Amalia
Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on the lady in the background pictured below and which finally marks the definitive beginning of a whole series/collection I want to create, namely, the Greek Collection.
A time-lapse video: making my tortoise relief art table top.
Well, it turns out I had made several videos whilst working on my latest tabletop, which means I got to make a decent time-lapse video as I design and work with the pyrograph making and painting it. Enjoy!
My Journey and Inspiration into Relief Artwork using Pyrography
For my next post I had wanted to write about my rug, or rather wall hanging, ‘Agas’ as a follow-on from my previous post. But to properly do so I really need to go back to the beginning when I first began learning pyrography relief artwork.
Artwork: Evzone Marching
Following a recent trip into Athens to photograph the Evzones standing guard outside Parliament I was inspired to create this artwork. Actually, it’s something I’d long wanted to do (hence the photo shoot for reference). To be honest, I had originally planned to paint an evzone in his summer uniform but I forgot they were still wearing the winter one 🤓 but since I actually prefer the winter uniform with the bold indigo blue and red contrasting berets and detail I was only too happy 😊
Artwork: A Minoan Offering
The art of the ancient Minoan civilization has long held a deep fascination for me and so I present my latest artwork ‘Minoan Offering’, 91 x 91 cms, created using mixed media on wood with pyrograph, featuring a characteristic Minoan woman making a symbolic offering to the horse.
Making of ‘Playing with my Demons’ – timelapse video
My latest artwork involving mixed media on wood with pyrography, to which I gave the title of “Playing with my Demons”.
‘The Gift’ – an illustration of Athena and Poseidon
My latest pyrography artwork, ‘The Gift’, (completed just before Christmas) was created in cooperation with children’s book author Mrs Yota Kotsauti at Ένα κείμενο, μία εικόνα to illustrate the story of the Greek gods Athena and Poseidon and the gift each of them gave to the Athenians competing for the city’s favor. It was a super opportunity for me as I’ve long wanted to try my hand -and imagination- at illustrating a story and in particular a subject which I love, Greek mythology!
An intuitive abstract painting that pushed my boundaries
While taking an indefinite break from working on wood with pyrography I felt a nudge -or maybe more of a growling push- to do something a bit abstract. To just play with some colours on canvas.
