'Hanging Around' Process

I thought you may be interested in seeing the way I go about creating a painting. To begin I lay out the most important elements, which in this case is the figures, loosely based on old photos of my kids. I add them in with a palette knife, while at the same time beginning to lay out the background, suggesting a cityscape, as I go. The background in this case is coming straight out of my imagination.

I continue to define the figures and add in further elements in an intuitive process, moving from foreground to background constantly, utilising the paint across the canvas as I go, to keep the whole piece unified.

I continue to layer on and scratch back the paint using mainly a palette knife, refining and working in an intuitive process, constantly taking a step back so I can see the whole piece .

Finally I further define some of the shapes and soften the background colour so that the figures are the focus, and the work is complete. This was done over a week, allowing time for the paint to dry a little between sessions.