PaintersOnline editor’s choice
Meet this month’s editor’s choice winner from our PaintersOnline gallery
Since graduating from Wigan Art School in 1978, Ian Dawber has worked as a professional graphic designer and illustrator in agencies in both Liverpool and Manchester. ‘I am currently a member of The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Stockport Art Guild and The Swinley Group. I started painting seriously in 2018 and since then my work has been exhibited in The Stockport Open, the Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival Open Exhibition, Stockport Art Guild’s annual exhibitions, Wigan Open, Liverpool Art Fair, TALP Open Art Exhibition in 2019 and The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts in their 2020 online exhibitions, Embody without Burden and Die Gedanken Sind Frei.
‘In 2019 I was awarded a commission to paint one of Stockport’s Giant Leap frog sculptures for its sculpture trail. I currently have work for sale in the Technically Brilliant Art Gallery in Warrington, Stockport Art Gallery, online at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, and two of my paintings have just been accepted for the Manchester 2020 Exhibition at the Deansgate Gallery.
‘As Above So Below? was painted from an original photograph of an artist friend of mine, John Walters. The photo shows him standing against a wall underneath some coat hooks, which I thought created a light-hearted double-entendre image. I knew it would make a nice humorous composition, so I painted it for a bit of run really to see how it would turn out.
‘I tend to work on primed board rather than canvas because I like a flat surface texture to paint on. Firstly, I sketched the portrait onto the board and laid a colour wash as underpainting to highlight colours and tonal values. Various layers of stronger colours were applied with my brush to create depth, light, shade and details. I like to use a strong colour palette and avoid using black paint. If I need a really good dark, I create it by mixing purple/dark blue with red and a touch of yellow. This makes for a cleaner, less muddy grey. To create the strong colour rendition visible in all my work, I simply look at the original image, pinpoint any subtle colours within it, and basically rev-up the colour strength. The colour is then applied using loose, flowing brushstrokes.’
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