Hetty & Dimitri's Wedding ( originally posted on http://www.iris-impressions.com )
When I was in my second year of uni I shared a flat (in Lewisham *shudders*) with Hetty. In the same year she met Dimitri and on 31 July 2010 (Saturday just gone) she got married to him! I went over to Gibraltar where the wedding was being held (they live there) and spent a lovely couple of days with Hetty, her family & friends. It was really amazing and the wedding was perfect! (I know everyone says that, but I work in the wedding industry so I like to pretend a statement like that from me carries more weight =p)
They didn't have a gift list and said they didn't want any presents because people being able to come to Gibraltar was present enough. Obviously I couldn't show up empty handed, but I'm not a big fan of giving toasters (besides, a nice toaster is bloody expensive!) or generic presents just for the sake of giving something. So I decided to create a painting. I think it was back in February last year that Hetty asked if I would do a painting for her, after seeing the painting I made for my aunt.
I set up my art desk and identified my art supplies (all still in boxes from our move in April) which were conveniently located in the box that was tucked furthest away and underneath 3 boxes filled with books.. And I set to work. I started on the Sunday before the wedding and finished it on Thursday evening (because I flew out on the Friday), which is very fast for me. However, I think it's actually good for me to be under a bit of time pressure, because it makes me get on with things and forces me not to think too much. Thinking too much can have a devastating effect on 'getting things done' for me, because self doubt creeps in quickly and makes it impossible to create freely.
The first picture below is the finished painting. Stupidly enough I only took that one picture of it when finished rather than close-ups of the details as I usually do. Ah well. The other pictures are of the progress in chronological order. You can click each picture for a bigger version.
Finished painting
Sketch on wood
Skin tones painted
Hair painted
Clothes painted
Cats painted
Initial background layers added
They didn't have a gift list and said they didn't want any presents because people being able to come to Gibraltar was present enough. Obviously I couldn't show up empty handed, but I'm not a big fan of giving toasters (besides, a nice toaster is bloody expensive!) or generic presents just for the sake of giving something. So I decided to create a painting. I think it was back in February last year that Hetty asked if I would do a painting for her, after seeing the painting I made for my aunt.
I set up my art desk and identified my art supplies (all still in boxes from our move in April) which were conveniently located in the box that was tucked furthest away and underneath 3 boxes filled with books.. And I set to work. I started on the Sunday before the wedding and finished it on Thursday evening (because I flew out on the Friday), which is very fast for me. However, I think it's actually good for me to be under a bit of time pressure, because it makes me get on with things and forces me not to think too much. Thinking too much can have a devastating effect on 'getting things done' for me, because self doubt creeps in quickly and makes it impossible to create freely.
The first picture below is the finished painting. Stupidly enough I only took that one picture of it when finished rather than close-ups of the details as I usually do. Ah well. The other pictures are of the progress in chronological order. You can click each picture for a bigger version.
Finished painting
Sketch on wood
Skin tones painted
Hair painted
Clothes painted
Cats painted
Initial background layers added