Talking Portfolio: Episode Eight
Behind the Painting: Tokyo
I painted Boy in Blue when I lived in Tokyo in 2014. Although I moved there with no more than a suitcase, I quickly invested in some art supplies.
Tokyo is such a densely populated city and it’s quite expensive to live there. My budget didn’t allow for more than a tiny one-room studio apartment, so I had to be creative in where I could paint.
I was used to working on a standing easel but there was simply no space to put it in my apartment. In order to paint Boy in Blue, I purchased a small table easel.
My dining room consisted of a small sofa and a coffee table, on which I put the table easel. Conditions were cramped, especially as the canvas I used for Boy in Blue was relatively large.
Behind the Painting: Canvas
I used a cheap canvas for Boy in Blue and it was tricky to really build colour because the paint didn’t take to the canvas.
To counteract this, I painted delicate layers of acrylic paint until there was a kind of resilience in the paint itself.
When this photograph was taken, I had only began to block in the colour of the painting. The image is a draft version of Boy in Blue.
The transformation from photograph to work of art can be seen in my Flipbook.
Behind the Painting: Travel
The size of Boy in Blue was too large for the Japanese postal system. I had to check the painting in as luggage on my flight home.
On my way to the airport, I carried Boy in Blue in a large cardboard box, along with my luggage.
To get there, I had to pass through several train stations in the Tokyo subway. I was afraid the canvas might be damaged in transit but it remained in perfect condition.
Even after being transported from Japan to Australia by plane, Boy in Blue was exactly the same as the day I painted it.
Behind the Painting: Talking Portfolio Series
Boy in Blue is the final episode of my Talking Portfolio series. In this series, I showcased both the people and the stories that inspired my art.
I wanted to tell the stories in a way that was more personal than just a generic audio guide. It also brought the paintings to life in a way a static image never could.
The Behind the Scenes blog posts provided more depth for: Family (2014), The Boxer (2015), Expectations (2014), Timeless (2013), I am Erik (2016), Photobooth (2014), Girl with a Lollypop (2012) and Boy in Blue (2014).