I was commissioned to paint Hank for his family a few months ago. He is a blond coloured prized bull that was kept as a pet by his family on a farm in Leamlara in county Cork. He sadly passed away and my client Esther asked me to paint his portrait as a gift for her sons and her husband.
The painting is 50 x 40 cm in size and I had a few photographs to work from. There was one image for the overall composition. In this original image, Hank’s body had some dirt and mud on his legs, stomach and thighs. My client wanted me to remove these and emailed me some other photos of her beloved bull to use as references for the painting.
The photo features a walled garden in the background. Hank is standing beside his favourite tree and the overall atmosphere of the photo is a typical Irish weather day. The photo is taken from quite far away, so the additional references were very helpful in capturing his likeness. I cropped the image to focus on the bull and turned it into a portrait orientation. I added his right ear which is turned in the original photo.
Esther and her family were very happy with the finished painting of Hank: “Hi Ivana, we love the picture thank you”, she texted me and followed on with a phone conversation about the painting. She was very emotional on the phone as Hank ment so much to her and especially her family.
I painted the painting in acrylics. I started with a fine line sketch to capture the composition and Hank. Once I was happy with how it is working, I added some basic colour blocks to the surface with a large flat brush. For smaller details, the bull’s body and background I used a smaller flat brush. I added some fine detail to the bull’s body only with a round brush.
I posted the painting to my clients to their farm in Leamlara in county Cork well wrapped. I covered the finished painting with two coats of clear satin varnish. The varnish provides UV protection and keeps dust and dirt away from the surface.
The painting is painted with acrylics on fine grain stretched canvas. The canvas is stretched on wooden supports and can hang unframed. A lot of the time, clients decide to display their paintings without framing at first and either keep their paintings unframed or frame at a later date.
I am currently working on a painting of a lovely family. I am using a photographs taken in Carvoeiro in Portugal and mixing and matching photos to remove sunglasses 🙂 It is a lot of fun and I will have an image coming very soon… Keep an eye out and don’t forget I am always open for new projects. Just email me your requirements to info@trueimage.ie
