A painting of a graduate

This painting was the fourth painting commissioned by return clients. It is of their son who recently graduated from the National College of Ireland in Maynooth. The clients wanted to capture him in his graduation gown in front of the university building.

The colours worked so well here especially with the muted greys of the background with the bright red of the graduation gown. I adjusted the building slightly to accommodate the front door which my clients were eager to show in the painting. The painting is very small at 20 x 25 cm painted with acrylics on stretched canvas. I worked with an initial yellow ochre sketch to build up the colours in several thin layers. The cliens were happy with the result.

I took some photographs of the finished painting on the ‘finished’ shelf in my studio. These show the canvas slim profile. I am also including the reference photo I worked from for the portrait.