Doing An Eardley

If I want to up my game I find there is no surer way to improve than by studying the work of an artist I admire and trying to copy it.  One artist I repeatedly return to for lessons such as this is Joan Eardley. I love the vigour and energy of her paintings, from her portraits of Glasgow Street children to her depictions of the raw coast around Catterline in Scotland. When I’m ‘doing an Eardley’ as I put it, I often set it to one side and let the image settle in my visual imagination before adding a bit more. This means that the pieces are rarely finished, and as she uses a lot of impasto they take ages to dry. But ah, the fun!