Friday night 6-9pm 28.09.18. The Mary Ward Centre. John Close was the tutor.
Head over Heels. Acrylic and wax pencil on canvas board. Around 50 minutes.
Thanks for the title Andy. The final pose of the night. The full figure would have been good but there’s been a many over the years and the feet and skull make an intriguing mix of life and death. With the composition focused on just three objects, the colour, brush-marks and texture could be thought out a little more than unusual. The background base colour can still be seen. The skin colour wasn’t blended; your eye has to do that work. Mr Skellington’s skull has dry impasto loaded on it; the colours on the skull are mixed between the skin and material. The material the objects rest on is made with thinner paint and scumbled with dry-brush marks; it is lighter the further the material is from the audience’s eye.
Below are the the other work made and some close-ups of the skull.
1. The canvas later painted with skull and feet. The drawing was made without looking at the canvas.
2. A painting made on crumpled paper.
3 & 4. A detail and full picture of 3 poses. It was fun to paint something so small for 15 minutes. This seated figure is only 5cm high. The larger paintings of the model were made with both hands working at the same time or painting upwards only.
Trevor Mill Graphic Designer Ltd 
Love the effect/finish on the skull and feet, Trevor. They’re probably a bit too flippant, but the only alternative titles I could think of are ‘Head over heels’ or ‘Head to toe’, or maybe a play on the words ‘soles’ and ‘souls’…
Head over Heels it is! I might varnish or use some thinned out paint on the material. Many thanks Andy.
Great stuff! :0)