Blue Peacock Fragment panel

The 'Fragment' Panel with resin coat

detail from top right corner

At last this 'fragment' panel has been completed! I have 'fixed' the details which included extra oil pastel, with spray varnish, and with my helpful assistant Mel I have now resined the panel. It will take 3 days to 'cure' and fully harden off and I plan to varnish the back for extra rigidity. Then the fun starts as I intend to use gold leaf as part of the next process which will be float mounting and framing. I am in awe of artists who use the full multi layered gesso plus clay based bole technique, I'll try that when I have more time! For this piece however, I will use a speedier technique which will still be entirely new to me. A steep learning curve coming up!

V&A Inspirations: Wooden Prince Fairy

Despite low light levels I managed to get this photograph of the skirt section
of the Fairy's costume. My sketches were based on this area of the skirt and
the front panel.

Another sketch book page, with the postcard included. Here I am playing with placements and incorporating the curved top section of the Samurai 's boot which I really like.
For the first painting, I will be using one of the 'thumbnails' above as a starting point. I've decided to incorporate some more motifs from my Chinese brocade fabric collection, so will be working on these as well fairly soon.

V&A inspirations: Wooden Prince Fairy

`a section from the Wooden Prince Ballet; Fairy character.
I loved the lines of graduating blue, the sea, hills...

another section of the costume, lots of gold braid and red fabric

A Samurai soldier's boot

A few hours spent at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (Theatre Costumes section) resulted in a few sketches, plus a bag full of inspirational postcards, bits and pieces from the V&A shop and lots of photographs taken in the Eastern section.
So far I have 2 paintings planned, but here are the sketch book ideas I'm working on just now.

Fragmented Blue Peacock

Today I've included some of my preliminary 'scribbles' from my sketch book and some photos of the process of creating the panel from scratch this time using my own hand made paper.

sketchbook page with ideas for this panel on top left of page, plus other sari panels

some early ideas which were incorporated in my first Blue Peacock Panel

The 'fragment' piece of hand made paper, shown here panel pinned to a board with a plastic cover.
I can now work on the panel in oils after priming it with pva/water mix coat.

Here I am working out the placement of the various  elements of the panel, using
drawn paper shapes which I've created from sketches and which are
to scale with the final piece. The paper 'fragment' has been given a base coat of oil paint
in Prussian Blue and Ultramarine, using Winsor & Newton paints.

I've now put all the main details and elements  in, using gold paint, French Ultramarine
Prussian Blue, Cerulean, alarazine Crimson etc. Now it needs to dry before I work on
final details.

This piece has been 'gestating' for months now, and one morning I managed to not only start it but also almost complete it! All thanks to the visit of another artist Charron, we talked so much we actually got masses accomplished, now that's rare.

Pale Blue Sari #3

After a few days the previous layer of oil paint has dried and I can start the 'integration' stage. I use oil pastels here in pale and sky blue, plus white, to integrate some of the background colours with the original pale blue of the handmade paper. I mainly use Pentel, Sakura and Conte branded oil pastels as I can work in quite a lot of detail.
At this stage I'm trying to make sure there is a balance between motifs and background and will still make some revisions on placement and colour.

Pale blue Sari painting #2

Actual colours are slightly less intense, the background blue is paler

Detail with stronger reds added

At this stage I've incorporated a few more reds and pinks using Windsor & Newton oils in Alarazin Crimson (my favorite!), lemon yellow, soft mixing white and some mauves. Some touches of fresh green provide a counterpoint to all the sugary pinks and lilacs. I've had to rework some of the gold detail on the motifs as these have become semi obliterated with the successive layers of oil paint. A few more 'motifs' have been drawn in using gold paint and I think I'll stop there. no more detail required.

Pale Blue Sari

Drawing inspiration from a collection of fabrics and Indian clothing I was given at the time of my own wedding. 

Also including what I call ‘motifs’ from other sources, namely some Chinese brocade fabric collected when working with artisans in China some years ago. 

a page from my watercolour sketchbook

some more preliminary sketches

stage 1 base colours and some gold added

The pale sky blue background base colour was chosen for it’s connotations to the sky and to the concepts of freedom and clarity.

Sari Panel Paintings

I started this series 4 years ago. Having long been a lover of jewel bright textiles, I create panel paintings inspired by richly embroidered Indian saris and fabrics. The first panel created was about 250cm x 100cm. Further commissions followed based on my own collection of Indian clothing. The choice of fabrics is vital in that they are not only visually beautiful but connect me to memories, people or events that have an emotional resonance. 

Materials employed: Wood, hardboard or MDF panels are covered in hand made Thai paper as a base on which I work with Winsor & Newton oil paint, oil pastel, beads, gold paint etc Some  panels are also coated in resin which retains the textural quality of the paper in some areas and  creates a glassy surface in others.

Other Sari works are on canvas using Winsor & Newton oil paint.

I work continuously in sketchbooks and my current favorite is a bound Watson-Guptill and smaller Winsor & Newton watercolour pads.

All my ‘Sari’ pieces are created with a particular group of Indian girls in mind; orphans, daughters of rescued sex workers and girls from poor families, all of whom are given a new home, food, clothing and education through the Esther Homes charity. A percentage of all the sales of the ‘Sari’ series goes to support this charity. Esther Homes (an EPOH project)

Small Blue Peacock

Blue Peacock Wedding Sari

Garden Sari