Emily-Rose Alcock Art

What would you do if you lost all your possessions?

I’m always in awe when my Scribbly sketch turns into life on the page in front of me. That something can be created from nothing.

There are several stages I move through when I paint. I mix my base colours first and have them ready. After the initial sketch I flood the sketch with water and begin to apply the different colours running through the fur, making sure I leave lighter areas where they will be used for contrast later.

From there I begin to layer my watercolour paints to begin to create the impression of fur.

I complete the eyes about half way through once all of my base layers are on. This is usually the point ill work on other features too like the mouth and nose.

The thing I love about using watercolour is it’s transparency. Colours are comprised of different elements and watercolour allows me to naturally build them. For example black is never just black, it often contains blues, reds etc.

The inside of Bruno’s mouth was particularly important from this perspective because without the shadow it’s made up of pinks. The shadows cast a purple, blue and grey / black cast over the area.

One of the things I had to push myself to do as an artist was to get comfortable with contrast. Once I did, I realised that contrast is really what brings a painting to life.