‘Trev’

A few years ago during Covid, my grandad passed away. I had never experienced a close death before and nothing ever prepares you for that feeling. Now that my Nan was alone, I wanted her to have a piece that captured his essence to remind her and us all what a guy he was.

This piece is acrylic on board. My painting style had evolved and I attempted the impasto technique similarly to my ‘pilea peperomioides’ piece. Below you can see each stage of my creative process starting from a sketch to each defining layer. As my reference was an old film photograph, certain elements like his hair came out as a beautiful teal blue from the flash which I kept as a defining element of the piece. It’s more vibrant and still captures his silver hair in an electric way.

The background was another experiment with layering and roughly finished edges inspired by some artists I had seen. The sculptural painting style of the face and clothing is loosened and complimented by the unfinished background, full of gestural paint strokes.

This piece will always remain close to my heart, more than any others I’ve created. I hope in a small way it shows how much I will always love him and will continue to be inspired by his calm demeanour, openness and softness. He was a wonderful man and I hope to live up to his standard one day.

Love you x