‘In Circles’: The Making Of

I wanted to share a bit more about how I go about making my art. In this post, I’ll walk through the different steps I took to create one of my latest finished artworks, ‘In Circles.’

It starts with the face.

I begin by sketching the face onto several canvases. On one, I’ll do a rough charcoal sketch; on another, a more realistic study. Sometimes I’ll also explore more abstract colours or a graphic style.

I then work on the more realistic part of the painting, even though this often ends up being just a small segment of the final mixed media piece. I paint in acrylics and finish in oil. I haven’t been using oils for long, so building the first layers in acrylic helps speed up the process due to shorter drying times.

Tear it up.

After putting hours into capturing a likeness, I tear the portrait up. It’s quite freeing to paint knowing the piece will be broken apart and made into something else. I also reuse parts of the face in other works.

First stitches.

Here, I sewed the eyes over the charcoal line drawing, then began adding segments for the rest of the piece.

To be honest, for this work, I didn’t fully know which images I would include around the figure. I sometimes do studies to plan things out, but this time I had a deadline, so I approached it more intuitively.

Painting sections.

Each segment in this piece was quite separate, partly because of how I constructed it. Once the base fabric was sewn together, I had distinct sections to fill. The roaring leopard was probably the most enjoyable part to paint.

More sewing.

The flowers, tapestry, and other layered fabric elements came next. I tend to be quite rough with the work at this stage to get it through the sewing machine; larger pieces need a bit of force!

Finishing touches.

I changed my mind on the colour scheme halfway through, shifting from blue and gold to teal and rusty orange. This meant repainting sections late one night, which isn’t easy when you’re working around loose threads and layered fabric.

Replace the flowers.

After repainting, the yellow flowers no longer felt right. I had some flowers from another piece, so I sewed them on at the last minute. I’m really glad I did, it brought the colours back into balance.

Stretch and Frame.

One thing about my process is that I put canvases on and off stretchers a lot. When I’m sewing sections together, the canvas is unstretched and can look saggy and wrinkled. This is where trusting the process really matters. The transformation, once it’s stretched and framed, is huge.

This piece came together quite organically and spontaneously, which sometimes works really well (and sometimes doesn’t!). I’ve found that overplanning can make things feel too rigid; trying to scale up a small collage into a large canvas doesn’t always translate. There needs to be room for change.

I think this reflects how my mind works, and something I believe is universal: we make sense of things as they happen, and meaning often emerges later, sometimes much later.

I hope this gives a bit more insight into how I make my work. Feel free to drop a comment or send a message if you’d like to know more.