Cathedral - From WIP To Finished Painting

The point of this post is to give an insight into how this painting was done. I enjoy drawing cathedrals but I didn't paint one in a while so I thought it was about time. It was also going to be a challenge for me, they're not exactly the easiest subjects to paint.

I started off by roughly drawing in the shapes in pencil and applying watered down watercolour paint at light areas of the building. I was using St Mark's Basilica in Venice as a guide but I wasn't being too strict on details.

Stretching clingfilm over wet paint and leaving it to dry creates some nice textures and effects as you can see here.

After I removed the clingfilm, I painted in more details and then put some more clingfilm over these newly painted areas. It's time consuming, and there's a lot of waiting around for paint to dry, but it's worth it. I learnt this trick off Jean Haines, an unbelievably great artist. Google her and check out her work. 

Dropping salt onto wet paint creates some cool blotchy effects. It gives an antiquated look to your painting after it dries. All you need to do is sprinke a little salt onto wet areas of  the paper. The salt absorbs the paint leaving behind the desired effect.

You can see how the effect the salt and clingfilm has here in this photo. This photo is from a different painting.

I was going to let the paint drip from the the cathedral to the bottom of the page but I realised the buildings' sense of scale would be taken away. Adding figures as tiny little squiggles at the bottom, turned the building into an imposing figure overlooking the little people.

I could have left it here and I think it would've looked fairly cool. I'll go back and do something similar to this in the future.

Here I pressed down some roughly cut masking tape and applied it to certain areas. I then painted around these in a darker colour to that which was under the tape.

The finished piece. Hope you like it. :)

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Jean From WIP to Finished Portrait

This is the photo I used to paint my friend Jean. After drawing out Jean's features I then drew over them in watercolour paint. I wasn't sure what colours to use at this point I but I knew I wanted purple to feature in it.

I started applying purple in a diagonal direction to give it movement. The purple wasn't too heavy as I wasn't sure how it would look. The skin colour was done by applying light diluted yellows, browns and red. 

Red and blue always goes well with purple so I added some here in the background. I thought she was looking pretty good here but soon after I felt like I was losing control of the painting.

At this point I was thinking it was going to be a failed attempt and I'd need to start over. My drawing that I used to get her likeness wasn't accurate enough so it didn't really look like her here.

A bit of  redrawing was needed to make her look more like herself. This is what she looked like before I added the black and white pens.

Overall I'm happy with it. Really happy actually, especially since halfway through I wasn't sure if I'd finish it. Hope ye like it.

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From Work In Progress to Completion

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Paintings Over Christmas

This painting of "Maria" was originally a print. Since I was out of paper and I couldn't buy more on Christmas eve, I thought I could try out a few new ideas on this print. With a white pen, acrylic paint and a spray can, this is what became of it.

This painting, "Claire" is a portrait of a friend of mine.

This painting, "Michelle" is another portrait of a friend of mine. She's a dancer so I tried to instill a bit of movement to the painting.

This one is a self portrait. It didn't really start out to be a self portrait, It began as a page from a comic book I'm doing the art for. It still will be used in the comic, but as a portrait I think it stand up on its own. I like it.

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A Conversation with Movie Poster Artist, Ciara McAvoy

Ciara McAvoy is an Artist based in Scotland and has been working within the motion picture and publishing industries for over 20 years.

What would you consider your big break?
My big break came when I joined Lucasfilm Magazine in Paris. They were a small team and I had good timing. Spending two years working for them gave me the time I needed to develop my own style and become an independent movie poster illustrator.

I’ll always be grateful for that opportunity and I had an amazing time there!

How did you discover your style?
I don’t think I discovered it so much as I cultivated what was already inside of me. I’ve always had the ability to pick up a pencil and replicated on a page exactly what I was seeing. James told me that I definitely see the world differently, in all its glory, even the tiniest of details others most often miss.

When I look at a picture, what I see is not the character, but compositional lines, a spectrum of colours, pigments mixed together; then I translate all of that through my painting to reproduce it exactly.

It’s a driving force and I almost go into a sort of sleep deprivation mode in order to reject the unnecessary details and see the picture as it is; that’s how I can reproduce that same effect for viewers and portray the heroes as themselves and in the moment.

You have a hyper realistic style...How do you get such a likeness? Do you meet with the actors and take photos, do they model for you?
I mainly use photos of the actors and of important scenes; the exception was for the X-Men First Class poster because the pictures I had were too dark and I had the opportunity to take that piece to the next level.

What's your preferred medium?
I prefer working in oil.

What's your favourite work so far and/or what has been your most successful work so far?
I don't have a "favourite work" per se. I consider each painting I'm working on as my next favourite, that’s how I draw my motivation and continuously improve my style.

The most successful posters are the Star Wars series.

Is there something you haven't done yet that you would like to do in your career?
Being called in to create an "official" poster for a Star Wars movie, not only a release or anniversary poster would be the ultimate compliment.

What do you think of social media and how artists can use it to promote their work? Do you think its a genuine way for artists to get discovered?
Social media networking sites are great vehicles to gain visibility and industry credibility. You can reach people on all continents and find out in real time what people think of your work on FB.

Artists like myself can use it as an "alarm" system; for example, when posting a painting that isn’t getting good feedback rating, artists can find out why that is and use it as a tool to correct the aesthetic approach.

Let’s not forget how important social media is in extending one’s professional network as well; you never know who in your network may present that next business opportunity.

Any advice for someone looking to break into illustration? How to get noticed?

Keep the faith, be patient, and work hard. If you think you can't do a better painting or illustration than someone you admire then you won't break into illustration because you must believe in yourself before others discover your talent.

It's a jungle out there. Think positive! Envision yourself as the artist you want others to see and embody that each and every day!

Thanks for your time Ciara! See more of Ciara's work at her Facebook page and her website.

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A Conversation With Jordi Fornies

Can you tell me a little about yourself, how you started and what made you come to Ireland?
I started painting when I was a child. After a short experience studying Fine Arts at the University in Barcelona, I decided to move and do my Chemistry studies and finish a PhD.

I never stopped my painting experience as I have always been enjoying pushing incompatible materials to experiment and create my work.

Just after finishing my PhD, I started pushing my artistic career professionally back in 1998. I also started working in marketing, and in 2006 I moved to Ireland due to a good opportunity in this field.

I intended initially to be here only one year, but I established myself here after that period.

To me, your style is incredibly unique. I wouldn't be able to even describe it. How would you describe it, and how did you discover it?
Well some people think that my scientific background has something to do with my style and I definitely believe so. In fact, I love to experiment, to research and play with materials that are actually antagonistic, and how they can work together.

Pushing the boundaries and creating textures using oil and water or acrylic and encaustic… years ago I would be considered crazy for even trying to do that.

I think it’s the part that I enjoy the most, to start thinking about what I want to explain with one painting, and start working on the effect of different materials to create the right metaphor.

What do you think of social media and how artists can use it to promote their work?
I think that social media is a fantastic broadcasting platform but it has the benefit to allow the people to express their opinion at the same time. Almost like the perfect media platform where you can start a dialogue with people.

For me, it’s like a dream to be engaging with more than 12000 people on my Facebook page today. This allows me to share content and communicate with people from all over the planet and at the same time, allow the people to be honest and share their opinion about my work.

That’s a dream for any artist. A platform which enables us to reach people, and at the same time, to learn from them.

How did your commission for Facebook come about?
That painting in Facebook is not part of a commission, more like a collaboration. I do work in facebook and love the company culture. They allowed me to use one of their walls in the restaurant to do a big painting marathon and raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland. I am very grateful for their support

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What's your favourite feeling you get when you paint/create something?
I titled my new exhibition Espacios (Spaces). In a way painting brings me to a different place every time. In my studio, limited by the available space, I am currently going very far away every time I start painting.

I love to plan the painting, maybe not sketching designs, but to write about what I would like to express, how I would like to do a particular effect, which materials will help me to explain something in particular. Then it’s always a surprise where I will be transported during the process until that magic moment of finishing a painting arrives.

What's your  happiest memory while working as an artist?
I particularly remember the day I heard that Dr. Rosemarie Mulcahy accepted to open my exhibition back in 2009. I can’t describe how happy I was! I felt an incredible feeling of professional achievement because of her incredible reputation as an art historian. It’s going to be forever one of the biggest achievements of my career.


Sadly Dr. Rosemarie Mulcahy passed away last September and I wanted to dedicate my latest exhibition to her memory.

What do you think of the Irish art Scene? Does it differ much from the art world in Spain?
I think it’s similar. I do think that the Irish public and galleries are actually more open to accept work of foreign artists and I am very grateful for that.

How do you keep your ideas fresh?
My brain is always coming with new ideas. I get inspirations from anything and everything, people explaining to me stories, things that happen to me, memories, life is a full source of inspiration and I really hope that these ideas continue coming to my mind.

Any advice for artists trying to find a Gallery to show their work?
I do consider that art is a slow career. It requires time, lots of work and dedication. You need to accept that lots of doors will be closed to our work but you still need try to find the ones that will be open and never stop trying.

In my case, I wanted to dedicate all the time and effort to art because I do feel real passion, mad passion, if I’m allowed to say, for the creative process! I know I will never stop that. When I moved to Ireland, I had to start my promotion again and I was very lucky to convince the Olivier Cornet Gallery to show my work for the first time in 2007.

I can recommend to be out there showing the work, trying to contact spaces that are happy to show work from new artists, participate in group shows, also to produce a good dossier and start showing the work around.

I remember I went to NYC with a dossier back in 2008 and I went to more than 200 galleries and I was lucky enough to convince one to show my work so it’s always possible.

Thanks for your time Jordi!

Follow Jordi on Facebook to keep updated with him.

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In Her Eyes

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