Jack Daniels, Mini portraits and Liverpool

Here is the latest commission that I finished a couple of weeks ago and let me tell you it really did test me. I was always unsure about doing this subject matter as it was such an iconic brand and the lettering was so complicated.

But I was encouraged to give it a go, and three weeks later was still painting the label, moving back and forward nudging the letters a little this way and a little that, making them slightly bigger or slightly smaller. 

My Patience was seriously tested but I persevered and I'm really happy with the end result. 

J.D - Comission

30" x 30"

Oil on panel

SOLD

After the tough slog with the JD bottle and the fact that my last few pieces were so large and complicated I needed to take a few days out, so I painted a mini portrait of my step son Spencer. 

Spencer

8" x 8"

Oil on panel. 

N.F.S

Now as you will have known from the previous posts I have been commissioned to paint a commemorative portrait of Steven Gerrard to celebrate his 100 caps for England and 600 appearances for Liverpool. I was originally supposed to be meeting with them in August but with changing schedules for both myself and Steven we had to keep pushing it further and further back until eventually we settled on a date we were both free in November.

The night before the delivery of the painting the usual doubts started to creep into any artist's mind...does it look like him...will he like it..so after I finished up painting that night at around 10:30pm I went online to flick through some images of Steven to just put these doubts to rest, only to find that his eyes were blue and not the brown that I had painted them! my reference picture for the main portrait was so poor that I was unable to see the true colour of his eyes and as they were so dark in colour assumed they were a dark brown. 

Panic kicked in at at 11:00 pm I got the easel out and paints and started to correct the eye colour and re shape his nose slightly.....thankfully It came out well and looked even more like him so the gamble paid off.   

I drove up to Liverpool with my wife, who had already stated that she was not in the slightest bit bothered by SG and that the whole football player thing, didn't really impress her (This statement will be important a little later on) 

We arrived at Melwood training ground were we were greeted by the LFC Security, after explaining who I was and what I was doing there he invited me to park in the car park, what he didn't tell me was the restrictions of parking at the very top end....I couldn't see any spaces in the areas he had said, so I continued to drive to the top end of the car park where the caliber of cars jumped from the ordinary to the extraordinary, cars so flashy and expensive that I reddened in my face at the fact I was driving a "Normal" car and that I was currently backing my huge 7 seater family car into the only available space between a Porsche and an Aston Martin, I unloaded the car to then here the Security shouting "No...No..you cant park here this is for the players"

We ended up parking on the road side and walking into the main reception we were ushered into a room ready to meet SG. 

When he arrived he had just finished training,he was really lovely and was really pleased with his portrait which was a huge relief. We chatted for quite some time about the painting and how to market it to gain the best kind of exposure to gain the best amount we can to donate to the Christie Cancer hospital. 

And what we discovered is that we both knew the owner of the huge high end clothing store Flannels in Manchester where he had seen my latest sports painting "Untitled" hanging in the office of the owner. I don't think he realized that the art work he had admired hanging in Flannels was done by the same artist who had just painted his own portrait. 

Now the biggest surprise for me was not the amazing all round experience of once again being a part of the LFC team for the day, or the amazing cars that I got to admire, or the meeting of SG and seeing other huge players just walking the corridors....No...the biggest surprise for me was the reaction of my wife when Steven walked into the room, (its at this point i'd like to point out her statement a few paragraphs up)

She was really star struck and all of a quiver....to the point where I could see her visibly shaking taking the picture of myself and Steven with the painting.

I Never expected her to react in this way....but I'll let her off....I mean it was Steven Gerrard. 

Myself and Steven Gerrard 

With his signed commemorative painting 

We were then invited to have some dinner where the players dine,we were really looked after by this lovely catering lady called Carol who I had taken  shine to when I had visited last year. 

As you can expect all the dishes were extremely healthy but that's just fine by me and so I sat down to a dish of rice, chicken and broccoli, the wife ate nothing....as she was still churned up from meeting SG. 

I said my goodbyes to SG and then left my painting with the main organizer of this whole event Chris, who is one of the most amazing and genuine guys I've ever had the pleasure to meet, he has personally raised sooo much money for the Christie and I personally cant thank him enough. 

I'll keep you updated when the Auction is up and running.

Gobstoppers and Candy Canes & Steven Gerrard Portrait

A few weeks ago I completed this latest original, and as you can see I decided to use sweets for the composition. After recently purchasing some ice cream sundae glasses I really wanted to include one of them in a painting, I played around with a few compositions until I eventually settled on this one as I thought it had great balance.

"Gobstoppers and Candy Canes"

36" x 20"

Oil on panel. 

SOLD

This piece was destined for Warwick Studios Gallery and once again they did an incredible job by selling it within a couple of days, I have also just completed a commission of Hotshots 2 for Warwick gallery. 

I have also planned to do another of the sport series and after finding a really great model I'm really excited to get started I have booked a photo shoot for reference shots this Thursday so I'm hoping for some great images then I can decide on what size panel with suit the composition best but all that will be guaranteed is that it will be BIG!

I have also just finished the Liverpool FC commemorative painting to celebrate England and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrards 100 caps with England and 600 appearances with Liverpool. 

I'll be meeting with Steven sometime in August If we can work around a date for both our schedules as he will be signing the piece, I've also been told that there are plans to do some limited edition prints that will be sold for the Christie Charity, I'm still unsure If the original will be up for auction but I will keep you all posted. 

Commissioned by Liverpool FC

Commemorative Steven Gerrard Portrait.

Oil on Panel. 

Liverpool FC Charity

It's been an intense week for me not necessarily due to work load but more to do with the fact that last Saturday my charity painting that was commissioned by Liverpool FC went up on the online auction!

SOLD

 

£6,000

It started off really well reaching just over £2,000 by Sunday....but then nothing!!......I was starting to think that this may have been the highest bid, but a little more promotion from the Christies ball and tweets from the likes of x factors Marcus Collins and Sky sports presenter Hayley Mcqueen and the figure started to rise on Thursday, the excitement was certainly building and a buzz on Twitter and my Facebook page was very apparent, especially with the team photo with my painting and an article posted on the official Liverpool FC website

Tweet and pic from X factor's Marcus Collins

Lovely tweet from Hayley McQueen

Then Saturday arrived the final day of the auction, i was very nervous and excited and i know i wasn't the only one sat on my sofa hitting the refresh button every few secondS during the last 10 minutes of the auction to see if the amount had risen and in the last minute i hit refresh and a figure that i could have only dreamt of appeared on the screen ......£6,000!!!!

I am so proud i could help raise so much money for the Christie cancer hospital. I'd like to thank all who made the 77 bids on the painting the people who retweeted the link to the auction or re posted on facebook, and the Liverpool FC players for getting behind us. But I'd like to say a massive thank you to Chris who works for LFC without you this couldn't have happened and a massive thank you to Jenny from the Christie who has been brilliant and expect Jenny and i to be working on more work for the Christies charity.

£6,000 RAISED!!!!!

Liverpool FC and Bailey Charities

September has been a crazily busy month for me not only do i need to get more gallery work done but also have a few commissions to complete. this has also had to be balanced with two charity events.

The first of the charity events was a commissioned Painting by Liverpool FC this was suggested nearly 6 months ago and alot of planning and preparation has been needed to make this happen.

I was surprised when i found out that the organiser of the charity event was a guy who works for Liverpool FC called Chris Morgan, a name i knew i wouldn't forget.

And so discussions started as to what to paint, i personally wanted to paint something with more detail and something that would challenge me artistically but Chris wanted the clubs iconic Liverbird painted as he felt this would be simple but very affective for the fans of the team.

I painted the Liverbird in a dark Indian red and built around shades of black, dark reds, yellows and whites to create a glowing affect around the bird also giving enough space for the signatures.

Once painted i needed a frame and i decided to approach the gallery/framers who frame my commissioned works, and kindly they offered to donate the frame for the piece which was a very kind gesture as a frame of this nature and size would cost around £150 so a massive thank you to http://www.theoriginalartshop.net/

I then had to store the painting awaiting the go ahead by Chris when all the team are available and finally after months of discussions Tuesday 18th September was decided as the date for signing

I arrived at the Melwood training ground at 7:30 am met Chris who then set me up in the teams dining room and all the players were informed that i would be there.

The first to sign the painting was the teams manager Brendan Rogers who was a lovely chap and very complimentary about my work. Then as the morning went on all the players came flooding in to chat and sign my piece.

Below are a select few images of the day.

Goal Keeper  - Pepe Reina

 

Midfielder  - Joe Cole

Defender - Jamie Carragher

Me and Stevie G

And the completed Signed Commissioned Charity Liverpool FC piece

30" x 30"

Oil on panel

Framed in a thick high gloss black moulding

 

ALL money raised from this one off signed Liverpool collectors item will go to the Christies

 

For those of you who don't know a VERY close family friend is suffering from terminal cancer and hasn't been given very long, I have vowed to try and raise as much money as i can for the organisations who have looked after her and so all the money from this piece once auctioned will be donated to the Christie's cancer hospital.

Love you Aunty Jayne x

 

I was also approached about three months ago by Eastenders Actor Adam Woodyatt who asked if i would be willing to donate a painting for the Believe Ball a charity event to raise money for this incredibly brave boy called Bailey Sarwa who has suffered with cancer since he was just 4 years old!

http://www.baileysarwa.co.uk/

 

Of course i wanted to help out where i could so i have worked night and day to complete a painting in half the time that i usually would to finish it ready for the auction of the ball on the 29th of this month at the Luton Hoo hotel.

 

This will be auctioned alongside some other AMAZING items including donations from Gary Barlow, Elton John, and Joe Calzaghe

 

And here is the completed donated Painting

 

 

"Allsorts of reflections"

28" x 33"

Oil on wooden panel

Donated to Charity

 

 

 

And here's me with the finished framed painting  - a massive thank you to the guys at Regent framing in Leamington Spa for donating and fitting this lovely frame.

 

Please Visit  - http://www.regentframing.co.uk/index.html

 

Lets hope that both charity events make alot of money for both these great causes!

 

Also Please check out the Buy Art festival in Manchester, my gallery Generation pop are showing my work there and have already had interest from some Celeb Actors

 

 

Coronation Street Actor Mikey North with my part of my Four Evens painting