I can now tell you about a fun project I worked on over the summer creating these three paintings of angels, which for once weren't intended for publication or reproduction, but instead to be hung and displayed on walls.
The main impetus for the project was the marriage of great friends Lowri and James, which happened here in Pembrokeshire, in the sunshine of June, and for them I thought it apt to create a small image to celebrate their togetherness. And in itself that seemed a good excuse to continue with my theme of angels. Lowri is from these coastal parts, and a love of the seas and oceans of the world forms a part of her soul. Both she and James spend as much time as they can beside or in the water, including three adventurous years together in Australia where surfing before breakfast became their enviable way of life.
Also into the mix were two other dear friends to whom I owed a something, and that 'something' I was allowed to decide was also a painting, and could also, therefore be an angel. Steve and Jenny share a love of, well, many things, but two that were relevant to this project were motorbikes and ancient sewing machines, both of which they have quite a few of. They also had an overseas adventure this summer with a ride along Route 66 with a gang of high octane bikers on fully-dressed Harley Davidsons.
In for a penny in for a pound, I thought I could make it a triptych and also dedicated a third angel in the series to Lucy and me. After working on a few books over the past few years where I had many paintings on the go at any one time I thought having three canvasses on the go would help keep the momentum going, and it was a cosier and more complete set than two would have been.
So I designed an over all layout, and had each angel holding up the initials of all involved. Each angel has a unique personality and the paintings had their own flavours and colour schemes. As the images weren't intended to be reproduced in print, I decided to use canvas boards instead of my usual primed hardboards, and it was great to feel the difference as the oil paints gripped and filled the canvas weave, unlike on the smooth hard boards where it can be a bit slippy-slidey.
Colourwise, the Lucy and Brett painting had a fifties theme going on, with pinks and powder blue.
Lowri and James' painting was more from the colours of the sea. All the angels had dramatic big frocks on...well, just because that's how I wanted them. And the dresses were going to display details relevant to each couple, so L and J's had an apron of fishing nets, to later be adorned with sea treasures.
Steve and Jenny's angel was darker, with biker blacks and aluminiums, and a redness inspired by Moto Guzzi frames. The hair styles also needed to be different, and this helped to define the individual nature of the three sisters...as that is what they had become as I plodded on with painting them.
It was really nice not having to seek client approval (I hoped for it later!!), and this meant no detailed drawings of what each painting would eventually contain, just a vague notion of where I was heading with them.
Well, eventually, the paintings were finished and I then created some frames with cushioned fabric mounts for the pictures which didn't hide any of their edge details as conventional framing would do. And this is how they looked:
I won't explain all the details, but I hope you like them. The paintings were delivered by Lucy and me to the other two couples when we met up in Bristol yesterday, and now the three angels have flown their separate ways, but of course 'L & B' came back with Lucy and me. I am happy to report that 'client approval' was very graciously forthcoming :-)
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