Painting Clare Balding

It was a double entry for me this week! Having missed the broadcast because of needing to cover a second weekend trauma theatre (people please stay safe out there!) I was able to do a bit of portraiture on the side both in the form of a sketch and a painting.

Usually in theatre there is a turnaround time between patients where the next patient is getting checked in and anaesthetised and once I had the theatre set up I grabbed an operation note that I use to write what happened during the procedure and started sketching.

I was able to use the still from the Sky Arts instagram account and just put some very fine lines down before finishing the sketch at home. The result was a work of art on the humble operation note! It also made me appreciate and enjoy pencil sketching which is a medium I haven’t really used these last 7 weeks and I’m glad I did.

Clare Balding. Acrylic on Canvas. 2020

Clare Balding. Sketch on operation note. 2020

So a couple of days later I had a day off and I was able to stream the broadcast from start to finish and I have to say this was one of my favourites. The interaction between artist Aine Devine and Clare Balding was such a joy to listen to and I’m so glad I was able to watch it from start to finish.

My original plan was to do an acrylic underpainting like with Noel Fielding however I found I was responding to the paint so well I just kept going. The wonderful thing about acrylic paint is that it dries rapidly and any mistake you make you can paint over immediately. It has a different visual quality to it whereby the final appearance does look more “matte” but I’m thrilled with the result and I feel the experimentation and freedom with which this process has afforded me to step outside my comfort zone and I’ll certainly be looking to do more acrylic paintings in the future. I love using oils but maybe there’s a place in my heart for both media.