Painting inside and out!

I'm sorry I've been missing in action from this blog since almost the beginning of this year.  Truth is commissioned paintings have taken over my studio life, and I've been fighting to keep up.  So much so that I got to the point of feeling some pressure, and now feel the need to do other work for a while, just to re-charge my painterly batteries.  

Please excuse me if you were about to contact me to commission a painting.  I'm not stopping commissions for good .... I just want to explore the possibilities of making other artwork for a while.

 I truly appreciate the clients I've been working with.  Without exception they are wonderful people, who do me a great honour when they choose me to paint their loved ones, pets and favourite places.  



 
Here in rural England we are having what passes for summertime.  And I've been taking my plein air easel outdoors to work from direct observation of the beautiful world I see around me.  It's a completely different process for me compared to working from photos, which is mostly necessary when painting commissions for clients via the internet.  Few clients live in locations where I can easily visit and paint from life.


If you'd like to see my new paintings as they happen I'd love you to come back for a peak.  In the meantime, here are a few of the commissioned paintings I've completed recently.

 You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com

 

A Marriage Proposal

Commissioned oil painting on canvas 80x100cm

The brief for this painting came right out of the blue, from the young lady featured, in this most romantic of portraits.  She wanted the painting to present to her fiance on the day of their wedding.  Such a charming idea, which instantly captured my imagination.

But there was a problem;  the only photo of the marriage proposal was a rather poor photo taken at night in very dim artificial lighting, out of focus, of a very low resolution, with the bride-to-be's face almost completely obscured by her beautiful hair.  Enjoying a challenge, as I do, I decided to accept the commission.  What follows, shows the several attempts I made to do justice to this special moment in the lives of this young couple, and in particular the struggle I had to capture that lovely face on canvas.

work in progress 1

I began as usual by drawing the composition onto the canvas.  On this occasion with graphite, as I wanted to be quite precise about the positioning of the hands and the tender way they were clasped.

A likeness to the subjects wasn't my aim at this stage.  It was more important to show the posture of the figures, and how they related to each other.

work in progress 2

Work-in-progress 2 shows how I loosely blocked in the background to reflect the dark randomness of what in the photo appeared to be a rough stone wall.  It was very apparent that this was not going to work well, and would need to be re-thought later.


Leaping onward to work-in-progress 9 by this time I had softened the background, with the beginnings of light glowing centrally.  Almost from the start I had the feeling I wanted to show the young people as if caught in a bubble of emotion, where their connection to each other was almost electric.  Totally separate from all the other people perhaps there at the time, or viewing the painting in the future.




The loving expression on the young man's face clearly showed in the photo, so was able to capture this straight away.  I then began a similar process with the other beautiful face, which was less straight forward.

Having little to go on from the proposal photo, because her face was hidden by hair, the client provided many other photos of herself.  None of them seemed to have the expression I felt she would have worn at that very special moment.  I made many attempts to combine how she appeared in the various photos together with my imagination.  The client collaborated wonderfully, with images and emails flying backwards and forwards, until we eventually saw her perfect expression emerge on the canvas.

Finally she sent images of furniture and decor in the room where the painting would be displayed, so I was able to add soft pastel tints to complement the room.

This project was a great lesson to me.  Emotions and instincts are far more important than any technical issues.  Problems are there to be overcome.  With persistence, plus enthusiasm and feedback from clients, magic things can happen.

Commissioned oil painting on canvas 80x100cm

How to commission a painting.  If you have an idea for a painting you'd like to discuss with me, you're welcome to get in touch.  You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com

Pomerian pet portrait painting

Dazzling custom dog portrait by Bee Skelton

A few weeks ago, I was initially astonished to receive a most unexpected commission for a custom pet portrait, in a style for which I'm not generally known.  I really did marvel at the the confidence the client placed in me, because she knew my usual work, and was still prepared to trust me to do something so completely different.

Little dog Jimmy is a most treasured pet, who holds a special place in the heart of the client and her man.  A spectacularly bright, semi-abstract style was requested.  But it also needed to be a portrait in the usual sense, in that there was to be a likeness to the subject.

I decided Jimmy's sweet face needed to be rendered as naturally as possible as a starting point.  As usual in my portraits, I wanted to focus on the eyes.

Once I felt the little dog's personality was beginning to show, I began to let rip with colour.  What FUN that turned out to be!

Fluffy Pomeranian dogs have long hair, so there was ample scope to play with texture, brush strokes and oodles of thick paint.  Finally my client requested I hide Jimmy's name in the painting for viewers to search for.

I loved being challenged to do something outside my comfort zone.  I look forward to more of the same .... but different LOL!

How to commission a painting.  If you have an idea for a painting you'd like to discuss with me, you're welcome to contact me. 
 You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com

Game of Thrones painting

Double portrait in Game of Thrones theme landscape

Today I thought it was about time I caught up a little on the blog to show just a few of the custom paintings I've worked on over recent weeks.  The first one above was a most unexpected commission.  And what fun it it turned out to be!

The client and his girlfriend are huge fans of the Game of Thrones tv series.  So much so, they've been to Ireland for a tour of the film locations.  Resplendent in fur-trimmed cloaks they had a photo to prove it. I was honoured to receive a request to use it as inspiration for a painting as a special surprise for the client's lady.

Here I have to 'fess up, I have never actually seen Game of Thrones, so needed to do a little homework.  However, the photo was very helpful, as it featured a beautiful background, which fans will recognise I believe.  In creating the painting I set out to emphasise the fantasy nature of the theme.

Work in progress 1

The painting was to be in acrylics on a 30x48.5 stretched canvas, approximately 12x20ins.  A wide format, intentionally chosen to show as much as possible of the fabulous landscape.

I began in WIP1 by loosely sketching the composition onto the gessoed canvas with thin grey paint, using the photo as inspiration.

Work in progress 2

WIP2 involved adding some colour in medium tones.

Work in progress 3

In WIP3 I set some darker tones.

From then on I gradually added layers to describe the atmosphere of the landscape background and eventually details of the portrait subjects in the foreground.

How to commission a painting.  If you have an idea for a painting you would like to discuss with me, you're welcome to get in touch.   You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com

Black poodle custom portrait painting

Completed black poodle custom portrait.

I received a commission to paint a poodle with a cute smiley expression as a gift for the clients father.  It was a interesting project as the little dog is completely black.  I've painted many black dogs before but on this occasion decided to accentuate lights and medium tones using distinctive blue notes .

black dog work-in-progress 1

I worked on a stretched canvas using acrylic paint rather than oils because the painting was required quickly.  Oil paint would have taken too long to dry before it would have been safe to ship to the USA from my studio in England. I started with underpainting in soft warm colour intended to be complementary to the blues to be worked later.  A loose sketch of the poodle followed in thin dark grey paint.

Gradually tones, texture and colour were developed and finally a simple background that was carried onto the sides so the painting can be displayed without frame.

If you would love a portrait of your own dog, send me your favourite photo for FREE consultation and advice to beeskelton@gmail.com

black dog work-in-progress 2
more tone added

black dog work-in-progress 3
with light/medium blue notes

black dog work-in-progress 4

black dog completed side view

New studio and new art in England

I've now been back in England for a few months and feeling very at home deep in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside!  My studio is small but fully functioning and more than adequate.

Moving from the hot dry features of the eastern Mediterannean island of Cyprus with it's lively Greek culture, to the cooler, greener landscape of Britain I expected my art would begin to develop along fresh lines.  Portrait work is a constant love yet I'm looking forward to experimenting with other ideas.

Beginning my first winter back home I have been fascinated by the beautiful countryside surrounding our new home and itching to get it down in paint.  But what I wasn't ready for is a sudden interest I've developed in the art of children.  I've loved painting them for years, but now I find myself looking at the artwork children themselves produce.  I'm not the first of course to notice what natural artists children are.  Pablo Picasso famously said;

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Pablo Picasso

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html#bSczOfAQgmKTviU2.99

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Pablo Picasso

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html#bSczOfAQgmKTviU2.99

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pablo_picasso.html#1jm7MdMhtCfKDO2Q.99'A

 'All children are artists.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up'.

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html#bSczOfAQgmKTviU2.99

and

'It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child'.

I know what he meant.  Influences of art school and working towards fine art degrees etc can often mess with what perhaps sometimes should be left alone to develop naturally.  Some outsider art produced by self-taught adult artists can be so fabulously exciting!

I'm feeling my way with my 'other' work (that not connected with portraiture) and with my new start back home in England, now is as good a time as any to play around with ideas.  One of which is to study the artwork of children by making a series of drawings.  I would like them to be all the same size, 6 inches square and I shall make them in tone only.  I have absolutely no idea how, or if, this will develop.  To start I've taken a couple of photos of drawings by my grandsons and hope to acquire more.  Here is my first attempt at making a drawing inspired by the work of a child.  A drawing of a drawing becomes something entirely different.  I hope to learn something from this.

Homage to Max 1

You can email me for information about anything you see.  A small collection of work can also sometimes be seen in my Etsy shop.

Romantic fantasy portrait in oils

Commissioned romantic fantasy portrait in oils by Bee Skelton

And they say romance is dead!  Not true, for some of my clients.  As an anniversary surprise for her husband, a lady in New York has commissioned me to paint a portrait of them both in the style of a romantic book cover.  She supplied recent photos and I got to work.  Below are some work-in-progress images for those of you who like to see the process.  
Email me for more information about any of my work.

Portrait for Our Friends Dog Rescue

Portrait of Henry

Our Friends Dog Rescue http://ourfriendsdogrescue.org.uk/ is in need of all our help to continue their excellent work.  I am absolutely delighted that Brenda Pollard commissioned me to paint an oil portrait of Henry, her handsome boy, with her fee going to help the cause.

Sadly Henry is no long with us but Brenda was able to send me some old photos of him to help me create a likeness. Below are some work-in-progress images for those of you who like to see the process:

Line drawing in pencil on the canvas

Started by adding main areas of light and shade with large brush.

Henry portrait work-in-progress 3

Henry portrait work-in-progress 4

Henry portrait work-in-progress 5

Henry portrait work-in-progress 6

Henry portrait work-in-progress 7

Henry portrait work-in-progress 8

Email me for more information about any of my work.