Colouring up – the Artist Working in the Studio

Print description

Surrounded by Staffordshire figures on a high bookshelf filled with antique books, mugs featuring humorous hairy buttocks as a nod to the life drawing sessions I run, and a Georgian cut-glass sherry glass, a tribute to my Spanish upbringing.

On the wall, my prints are displayed—dragons, swifts flying over Glyndebourne, Brighton Seafront, Brunswick Place, the Seven Sisters cliffs—and I’m busy colouring a scanned architectural drawing of the Brighton Royal Pavilion on my computer. On the desk are my photography camera, a tripod, and other tools. I wanted to add a John Craxton cat, so I placed it near a basket filled with rolled drawings and designs.

Part of a series of three prints that describes how work: from concept to creation of ink drawings and addition of colour digitally.

Print details

To create this print, I start by crafting individual drawings in ink, which collectively form a collage comprising the final piece. I scan my drawings and digitally add colour. The original design solely exists in digital format, and I print it using archival inks and paper. I then release my design as a limited edition print, available in standard ‘A’ sizes, ranging from A0 (84.1 cm x 118.9 cm) to A4 (21 x 29.7 cm).

Domestic Interior and self expression

This work echoes many different sources, from Vuillard’s colourful depictions of the domestic patterned interior, many of which I saw at Pallant House Gallery in 2022, to the Alekos Fassianos Foundation, which I visited in Athens during the summer of 2023. Also in a mental periphery I can think of Ben Nicholson still lifes with his everyday objects; or Gwen John interiors, specially one exquisite painting ‘La chambre sur la cour’ that depicts an balcony

The human figure in a scene

I have been running life drawing sessions in Brighton for many years, and the depiction of the human form fascinates me. Through this piece, I aim to express both my personal experiences and the environment where I live. So the inclusion of a figure is very important, referencing one of my living art heroes, artist Louis Fratino, with his modernist cubic contemporary classics. It also draws inspiration from a recent exhibition at Studio Voltaire in London, that featured a pairing of works by Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland, held in the summer of 2024