Thursday, March 19, 2009

Wedding Present Canvases


I painted this set of three canvases for my brothers wedding present. He did commission me to do a painting for him, but I figured these would be more appropriate. Each canvas is 3'x2' and are a lot larger than they look on the photo - click to enlarge it.

I must explain that he lives in a traditional French house, and these are (obviously) designed to go in his kitchen.

They were made by first priming the canvases. I then used a selection of medium to form a collage background (newspapers, paper tissue, cardboard). The canvases then were given another priming, and the vegetables roughly drawn on the canvas. I then dabbed on the background using a rough green and yellow cleaning sponge with different shades of green and yellow acrylic paints (mainly Claudine Hellmuth - her fabby blog is HERE ). I built up the layers over a few days. I then started on the vegetables themselves, again building up the layers.

I must state at this point, that I received help from our Head of Art Elaine who helped me build up the layers. I always want to go for pretty, but with this type of artwork, you need to use a 'flowy' painting technique. She also helped me with the lighting and shading, making sure I really made the vegetables 'pop' by using charcoal.

The completed canvases were given a final layer of glaze so that the charcoal wouldn't rub off.

I know these aren't to everyone's taste, but I don't think they're too bad for my first canvases !


17 comments:

ScrappyDandyDoo said...

They are totally fab hun!!!
Love them, as I'm sure your brother will :)

Eileen said...

They are going to look soooooooo cool in his kitchen, I bet he loves 'em, Cal!

Not surpised to see that the Claudine Hellmuth paints putting in an appearance after you fun weekend playing with them.

Just wish I had an ounce of 'proper' artistic talent, you have bags of it.

Rebekah said...

I only wish I had a free wall in my kitchen so that I could commission you too :) I love them.

cathy said...

Brilliant hun!! Is there anything that you can't do & are not brilliant at?? ............. if there is then I'm sure after one go you'd be fantastic!!

BTW - he's gonna love them!

claudine hellmuth said...

beautiful paintings!!!!

Bagpuss said...

These are amazing Cal! If he does not like them then I'll have em! What a fantastic present :)

Dylan said...

Woop woop, you go girl. !!! Claudines paints just glow out of the canvas. Love em, love em,love em.xx

thekathrynwheel said...

These are cool :-) I love Claudine paints too!

thekathrynwheel said...

These are cool :-) I love Claudine paints too!

Sam said...

Wow, Cal these are great and will look fab in your brother's kitchen!!
SamG xx

gwyneth said...

Wow Cal these are amazing, never knew you could paint like that !
I now want to go and live in France to have a typical french kitchen with one of these on the wall !!!
You're brother &future SIL will love them .

debbie r said...

cal they are really great, i'm sure your brother will love them

Sharon said...

Amazing work Cal.
Your brother will love them!

Bet you had tonnes of fun :-)

Roz said...

What amazing canvas I'm sure your brother will love them.

Anonymous said...

ho ho -- and how is you going to wrap them up and get them to the wedding my mate!!!!

So have you now justified buying all the CM paints!!!!

Janee x

Dylan said...

hey you, TAG you're it !!! see blog for challenge xx

joolsedesigns said...

Hi Cal thought I had left a comment Canvas is Fabby