Painting With Purple

On April 22, 2016, I was shocked as was many across the globe of the passing of Prince Rogers Nelson. I was always inspired by him and his artistry, and had wanted to do a portrait or painting of him for a long time. When I heard of his passing, I was deeply moved to pay tribute to someone who had played such a huge part of my life. I wanted it to be colorful, loaded with purple and passion just like Prince. I captured a bit of the process with a couple of short videos because I wanted to find a way to include people in on what I was seeing and feeling with it, uncut and unedited. Here, also are a few up close and personal photos of the painting.

It started with a sketch. I usually size up my canvas on a document equal to the dimensions of my piece on Photoshop. This way I can see how much of the subject I can include on the canvas. I then make little sketches and scribbles indicating where my main points will be positioned ( scribble where the top of the head, shoulder points and guitar tip will be etc.) Then little by little, I begin filling it in shaping and re-shaping as I go. I like to use a mechanical HB led pencil on canvas because it shows nicely but erases when needed. It gives me a chance to sketch out lightly on a small scale until shapes develop. The paint begins to fall in the same way. I work pretty scattered, so if you can see in the video, I go all over the place and build it all out together as opposed to like do the eyes first, then nose and.. well, you get it. The rest is about bringing it all into focus and giving it some color, life and emotion. Prince was a very beautiful and amazingly talented individual. He was vibrantly colorful and full of life and emotion. Hopefully I captured some of that here. - Gus

"Prince" - Acrylic & Pencil on canvas 16" x 20"