With 2015 drawing to a close, I wanted to share some process photos from an oil painting commission that I finished back in November.  This piece was the physically largest commission I have undertaken to date and I really enjoyed the opportunity to stretch out and work with larger media after several months of detailed digital projects.

The client’s brief was fairly specific on subject matter, with a particular challenge in wanting the impression of a painted on grained wood.  With the additional cost of assembling and painting on a grained wood panel of this size (the knots and whirls of the characterful wood the client wanted are not easily obtained or worked with) I recommended an oil paint on canvas approach to simulate the appearance of wood.

Being happy with this approach and my initial roughs, I got to spend a very enjoyable few weeks creating the appearance of a surface and then playing with the way the image interacted with it.  Changing the way a painting’s surface is perceived by the viewer is one of my favourite surrealist tricks and by using two separate levels of underpainting, I was able to play with the idea of the painting as both a three dimensional image and an object at the same time.

Timelapse painting process

It was a lengthy project with a number of unusual challenges, but a genuine pleasure to work on and the client was over the moon with the result.  You can expect plenty more oil work coming up in 2016.

Painting details