At Last, the Top Seekrit Revealed.

Way, way back, I blogged about a project I called Top Seekrit. The project took awhile, due to the vagaries of winter weather and life just getting in the way, as it often does.

The painting was more-or-less finished in early January, and presented to the birthday girl who inspired it on the day of her party. Unfortunately there wasn't time to get it properly photographed. Plus, the clearcoat was still milky in a couple spots, which I have to admit made me more than a little nervous. What if it never cleared completely? You really don't wanna be the guy who ruins a pretty girl's birthday present.

Fortunately it dried nicely, and a couple days ago I finally had it photographed by my good friend John Watson.

But wait - I'm getting ahead of myself here.





It all started this way: she told me about a seahorse tattoo she had, and how she'd love a painting based on Charles (the aforementioned seahorse, of course). She'd already seen several of my first-generation metalflake paintings, and liked the look of those. So really, it was all just a matter of sorting out details after that.

First I did a tracing of her tattoo, which hopefully didn't tickle too much:

Then I refined that a bit, and defined the lineart better:

Next came the final ink lineart, ready to be transferred onto the painted surface:

(It was during this stage that I decided to add the little circular bits to Charles's crest.)

And how did all this turn out, you ask? Well, a lot like this:

Oh, and here's a little macro detail to give you more of an idea of how the metalflake paintings look in the real world:

What can I say? When I'm inspired the whole process is just... easier.

Bret Taylor
Vancouver, BC
March 31, 2012

P.S. As always, thanks, Tess.

Six Hundred, or: Power Trio.

So here we are at another milestone in the epic journey towards my one-thousand-day goal. Six hundred days. Puttered around with three small pieces to get up to speed today. A little drybrushing, a coat of clear...

After that the goal was to finish one of the big metalflake paintings. This particular one is titled "Power Trio" - think Rush, Cream, or the Jimi Hendrix Experience. First I did a couple hours of masking (my back and shoulders are still thanking me for that):

Once that was nailed down, it was time to slap on a bit of titanium white:

Eventually all the white areas were done, and the tape came off. Then I took the painting out on the balcony to take advantage of the early-evening light:

And that one's a wrap. I'm exhausted - done painting for the night.

600.