John Lennon, Jeff Buckley and Jimi Hendrix by Dan Johnson

I’m calling this series of paintings ‘Inspirations’, which I may add to in future.

An interesting point to note – I didn’t intend this when I started these paintings (maybe subconsciously I did), but all three were exceptionally talented musicians who died before their time in consecutive decades. Hendrix died in 1970, aged 27. John Lennon was killed in 1980, aged 40. And Jeff Buckley sadly drowned in 1997, aged 30.

I was thinking recently about why I paint, what my motivation is, and what I get from it. I’ve always primarily painted portraits of well-known figures, and I mainly paint people who have inspired me in some way, or whom I admire for their work or just the way they come across.

So I suppose inspiration itself is what inspires me to paint. The inspiration I get from others who have done great things in their life, and which I hope to pass on in some way. I guess I try to capture some of that inspiration in my portraits, in an attempt to inspire others.

I think it’s important from time to time to take a step back from the work, and think about why we want to do it in the first place. Inspiring others is a big motivation for me, and something I try to do for other artists through my Right Brain Rockstar blog.

Now I’ve had enough of these small black and white portraits for a while. I’m going to be going bigger and more colourful for the next painting. Watch this space!

I was a bit of a latecomer to Jeff Buckley’s music, having somehow avoided it until it was recommended by a friend in 2003, and I’ve been a huge fan ever since.

Another huge talent who was sadly taken away from the world too soon.

Stephanie Rew

Seated on Red Uchikake kimono

I stumbled upon Stephanie’s art after she posted in the Robert Liberace group on Facebook, and I was very impressed by her beautiful figure paintings. She also paints a lot of women in colourful kimonos, and manages to capture the intricate patterns perfectly.

Visit Stephanie’s website

Follow @stephrew71 on Twitter

Stephanie Deshpande

The Dream

Another Stephanie, who paints masterful representational portraits and still lifes in oils. She also posts sketches and works in progress on her blog.

Visit Stephanie’s website

Follow @stephaniedeshp on Twitter

Paul Cadden

When you first see one of Paul’s works, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were looking at a photo, but they are in fact hyper-realistic drawings made with graphite pencils. Not to be confused with photorealism, where a photograph is copied literally, hyperrealism goes beyond the photograph to “create the illusion of a reality which in fact either does not exist or cannot be seen by the human eye.” These drawings have to be seen to be believed.

Visit Paul’s website

Follow Paul Cadden on Facebook

I hope you found something inspiring in these artist’s portfolios. Let me know which one you like best, and if you have any other great artists to share, please let me know in the comments.

Images used with the artists’ permission.

I saw a great idea recently on artbizblog.com which suggests posting significant milestones from your art career on your Facebook timeline.

I started doing this on my own Facebook timeline (use the date navigation on the right to ‘go back in time’). So far I’ve posted my first painting, my first artist website, and the other day I posted my first ever proper portrait attempt, a pencil sketch of Eddie Izzard that I did when I was about 14.

This was a great opportunity to compare the portraits I was doing then, to where I am now, around 18 years later:

18 years of practice

I’d love to see more examples of this on other artists’ Facebook timelines. If you have a timeline for your art, post a few early milestones, and then leave a comment below with a link to your page so I can check it out.

Draw My Face is back!

In other news, I have decided to create a separate website for my commissioned portraits, pet portraits and baby portraits. I decided to make use of my old domain name, so you can now find my commissioned portraits at www.drawmyface.co.uk

The site has an integrated shop, so it’s now much easier to order your portraits, and all digital paintings now come printed on canvas as standard.

There’s a launch sale going on at the moment, but for you loyal blog readers, I’d also like to offer you a further 20% off any order placed before the end of April 2012. Just use the coupon code BLOG20 in your shopping cart to claim the discount.

Check out what’s on offer now at www.drawmyface.co.uk

I listened to The Beatles a lot while I was painting this, as I find it helps to capture the personality of a musician if I listen to their music while I paint.

It really took me back to my childhood and teenage years (80s & 90s), when I listened to The Beatles a lot! Amazing how music has such an ability to take you back to specific events in your life.

This original painting is available to buy now (Special pre-order price)

I tried to capture some of his humility in this portrait.

Jimi Hendrix. Oils on canvas. 20x20cm (Depth: 35mm)

This original painting is available to buy now

It seems like every week someone else I know announces their good news!

But as any experienced parent will tell you, those early years are over in the blink of an eye and before you know it, your baby is all grown up and you find yourself looking at baby photos and wondering where the time went (so I’m told – my time has yet to come!)

I think this is why people like to get portraits painted of their babies, to capture that fleeting moment in time  in a painting that will last a lifetime.

I was recently asked to paint this portrait of my sister’s goddaughter, as a present for the parents on the baby’s first birthday. (Click to enlarge)

And I  made a video as I was painting, which shows some of the process:

If you know someone who would appreciate a custom-painted portrait of their little one to treasure forever, you can order one today from drawmyface.co.uk

Here are a few more examples of my baby portraits (click to enlarge). Get in touch if you want to discuss a commission.

Digital Black & White

Digital Colour

Acrylics on Canvas

I’ve been a fan of the Beatles since I was very young, probably because my mum used to play their albums all the time when I was a kid.

I painted these four small oil portraits for my mum’s birthday, and even my 85 year-old gran, who suffers from dementia, was able to name them all, so I figure I must have done a decent job!

Prints now available

We all tend to stress too much over the little things in life, so it’s nice to have Bob telling us don’t worry about a thing, every little thing’s gonna be alright.

This original painting was won by Paul Bradley.

Oils on canvas, 20x20cm

How would you like to win some original art? I’m giving away this original painting of Bob Marley:

Bob Marley, oils on canvas, 20x20cm

Bob Marley by Dan Johnson

Oils on canvas, 20x20cm

To be in with a chance of winning the painting, all you have to do is:

1. Share this blog post on Facebook

You can copy the link and share it yourself, or you can use this handy button

Make sure you use your main email address when commenting, so I’ll know how to contact you if you win.

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