Matti Paints - Subject Alan

 

I know what you're thinking and yes. It's true. I've now officially painted an Irish man. In many ways, he's the first major expansion of my project. Sure I've painted lots of people of Irish descent, but everyone so far has been Canadian. (or American, but that's pretty much Canadian)

Me and Alan met when the power was out in my building and I had no idea what to eat for dinner. As a result I found Alan and he invited me over to a) get out of my building, and b) to eat. It was much appreciated and a beautiful friendship has emerged because of this.

We have a great deal in common which made his song choices a surprise. To him. Not to me. He was constantly asking me how I had so many UK songs on my playlist. As a result we ended up with a lot of songs that we both loved. ESPECIALLY Loreen who I am currently obsessed with. But that's besides the point. The point is we both love pop music. It's fun.
Plus Irish guy picks Sinead O'Connor and Cranberries. What a surprise.

One major surprise in his choices were his colour choices. Again, it's a case of the tertiary colours, but this time they were chosen with a very different motivation at hand. Namely, Alan chose colours that were distinctly "Irish". Green, orange and white (for the flag), and purple and pink because they're beautiful colours.

We started this project after a quick pint at the pub. As a result I didn't really realize how opposed his colours were. That, combined with the difficult nature of working with chest and arm hair I knew I had to do something very different from what I normally did. As a result I painted him entirely with a stippled effect. Instead of using the brush in strokes I would fill the paint brush with paint and then dab at him instead of dragging it across him. As a result I ended up with a very distinct pattern that was very much like flowers or a smoky field on his shoulders. I was disappointed that this didn't come out as strongly in the final photograph. There were many bands of colours that simply blended together just based on the nature of the paint. For instance his face is actually layers of pink, orange and yellow that unfortunately blended together. The fact that a lot of the paint was dabbed on also didn't help matters.

That being said, Alan is a lovely and enjoyable person, and I hope he enjoys his final shot. It's quite intense, but I think he looks good.

On a side note, my official Kickstarter has been launched. Please help to support the Human Canvas Project by visiting it : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thebigshibam/the-human-canvas-project

Also to become a part of the project please send an email HERE