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Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar

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Hang on Studio Wall
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Malcolm Davies GRA

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Well here it is. I have decided to step outside my comfort zone in the biggest way possible and have a go at a portrait. Never done one before, so where to start, who to do? Seeing as I am a bit of a military history nut I thought I would chose a rather well known character, Guy Penrose Gibson of the Dambusters. No challenge here then as lots of people will recognise him, but can I get him right? This stage of the painting is two days in and to say I have been taking it carefully is an understatement. Tiny bits of colour at a time, so hopefully no big mistakes made that can't be resolved. I am rather happy with it so far.  Watercolour on Hahnemuhle Paper around A3 overall size.
IMG_8857

Marjorie Firth

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Looking very good, Malcolm. You're on a roll at the moment,  with your rusty car and your steam train as well.
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Lewis Cooper

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It's looking great, Malcolm.  I shall watch with interest.

Denise Cat

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It's looking just great. What an interesting character you have picked. Sadly came to an abrupt end in a Mosquito, not sure if it was in Holland.
me

Malcolm Davies GRA

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Made some progress on the Guy Gibson painting yesterday. Somewhere in the region of 6 - 8 hours went into the right hand side of his jacket. Trying to get the jacket to look like fabric is fun. I am pleased with it so far. Going to be a while before this one is done.

Anthony Knight

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Folds and creases in fabric are great fun aren’t they? You’ve got them looking good there, looking forward to seeing more! Will this have a background?

Linda Drury

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Posted
Looking great so far Malcolm 👍😃

Linda Drury

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Looking great so far Malcolm 👍😃

Alan Bickley

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Remarkable accuracy Malcolm, a great subject, a war hero in fact, that you’ve chosen to paint!
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Lewis Cooper

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Fascinating to see how this has developed and hear/see other's methods.  Looking terrific.
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Malcolm Davies GRA

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Update on the Guy Gibson painting.  A couple of days since my last post about this.  As is clear I have done a lot of work on the jacket and that bit is getting close to being finished. You can see on his left sleeve (as we look at it) I have laid the base colour over the parts which will be lighter in shade once worked on. I find this helps when building up the colour on top as it shows through and depending on how shaded you want it to be you can leave more or less of the base colour visible. Spent some time today doing some work on his face. I was aware that I had some rather obvious 'lines' which I have tried to soften somewhat and I think it has made quite a difference.

Alan Bickley

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Good progress here! The upper lip looks too red, they are often in shadow. I’ve looked at your reference photo online and it does appear to be in shadow.
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