Painting Icons

I have always liked Roy Orbison’s singing, what a range he had without hardly opening his mouth. From being 15 years old I was collecting his records and doing paintings of him for girls in my class. In my book I started back then is one of my first paintings of him from 60 years ago.

I saw him three times in his career back in the 60s at Stockton. The second time I took a portrait of him to the side door and he autographed it for me. I treasured that painting then in a fit of madness I gave it to a girl I fancied, never saw her or the painting again.

If you want to see how good he was watch Black and White Nights where he performed later in his career with Bruce Springsteen and others backing him.

This watercolour was done live online with my art class who were wanting to learn how to paint portraits. In the end we did a few,  David Bowie,  Steve McQueen, and even Ed Sheeran.

The way I start a watercolour portrait is to flood the face with clean water then gradually drop in subtle colours in the shadow areas and features adding more strength as it dries. I lift out some of the highlights with a damp brush then when fully dry I add the details. I always start with the eyes (easy in this case) because if I don’t get them right then the portrait will not work.