Le Mans 2015
Realism has been a style of artwork that has been of interest to me throughout my years as a practising artist, and a passion for cars and motorsport goes hand in hand when it comes to creating pieces such as this. This particular painting is from a photograph taken by a friend at the Le Mans Endurance 24 Hour Race in 2015. They then commissioned me to paint it onto a canvas.
It’s drawn out by hand first, and then I use oil paints. I first used oils roughly thirteen years ago, and it is my preferred medium. I enjoy the fluidity and freedom that oils allow me when it comes to application.
Le Mans 2015 took roughly two weeks to complete, and was done as a hobby alongside my day job. I have a spare room in my house that works as a combined office and studio. It barely resembles the style of fully-equipped studio that I adored using during my university years. I don't really like painting on an easel, I find it much more comfortable to paint flat against a table or floor, or have the painting leaning at a slight angle against a wall. I do enjoy large canvases, so the latter strategy is the one I go for the most.
The most rewarding part of painting is seeing the reaction from the person who has asked you to do the work for them. I get so much satisfaction from knowing that I’ve given them a unique gift that they can appreciate for some time.
Painting is purely a hobby of mine. I would love to do it full-time, but with a young baby to consider and a mortgage to pay, I don't think it's sustainable enough to warrant getting full-time artist status. Art was something I always wanted to be good at, but I never actually thought I was good enough to make something out of it. Add one addictive personality and the drive to prove an old high school teacher wrong when she advised I would never pass an A Level art course, and here I am. Still painting in my spare time with a few commissions and an art degree under my belt to boot.
Recently I’ve been experimenting with very small art pieces, which are on collectible MTG cards – another hobby of mine. This is something I’m developing, and it involves painting on extremely small surface areas with details of increasing difficulty.
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