The moment it was revealed that my group would be painting David Gandy was exciting. Others were not so delighted, thinking that it would be difficult to paint someone so beautiful. But what I most liked about David is that he looks like himself. Yes, he’s incredibly good looking, but he has distinctive features and doesn’t have a generic face.
To be on the safe side I decided to grid up to ensure that at least I’d have a passable likeness at the end if nothing else. The first hour was incredibly stressful as I felt that I wasn’t going fast enough and that I wasn’t engaging with David enough. He was incredibly patient and a very good sitter. I tend to work incredibly close up as my sight is not that great and trust the strong glasses rather than looking from a distance so I did use the tablet a lot.
In the last hour I took the opportunity to look at David for getting the skin tone and hair colour correct.
I did run out of time and never finished the background or his shirt. In hindsight the size I decided to paint was to large and If I were to do it again I would make it much smaller to give myself more time.
