Pop Culture Pop Art
Kobe Dunk
think whether you are a basketball fan or not, Kobe Bryant’s Death was absolutely shocking to hear. Not only because of WHO he was, but HOW he died. Our hearts instantly went out to his family.. and if we are honest, we probably all rethought our bucketlist dreams of getting into a helicopter again.
In mid 2020 I was struggling to find a purpose for painting. I love to paint but without something specific like a series of portraits, I struggled with inspiration and motivation.
When I received these Commission requests I was over the moon.
I began with Kobe in my own style. I love doing block colours, with a tiny bit of shadow and light and no face. This was a really fun project for me to begin getting into the swing of painting again.
Kendrick in Colour
I moved on to a portrait of Kendrick Lamar.
Full Disclosure, this portrait was heavily inspired by a coloured Kendrick photo the customer found on a Google search but I found the original photograph and made it my own.
Again, the blocky colours are a favourite style of mine and i really enjoyed the finer details of making the beanie and braid.
Fresh Prince Surprise
Finally, the third portrait in this commissioned series is the King himself, Will Smith.
This portrait was painted in a cross between my normal block colour and painterly style. Small small portions of full mixed colour applied in just the right spot to create a facial likeness to the photo reference.
During this portrait creation, on of my close friends from high school in Canada passed away, so this portrait will always be close to my heart, as it’s the only thing that kept me going. I felt so sad and lost but this painting kept me getting up every day instead of spiralling knowing my husband was away for work and we couldn’t afford for me to fly from Australia to Canada to attend the funeral.
It’s a weird fact, I know, but important to share.
3 is not a crowd in this room
