"Highcliffe on Sea" - acrylic paint on corrugated card

Here's an initial "trial run" of a painting I'm planning for a large canvas. It's based on a favourite photo of Big and me on a beach in Dorset, but broken down to 4 "monochrome" shades which really emphasise the contrast between light and dark.

It's very difficult to restrict yourself to flat blocks of colour like this rather than subtly merging from one shade to another. I love the overall effect, though, having seen prints of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis in art shops in this style, and have been dying to try my hand at it for a long time.

It's not quite there yet. Some of the shadows look a bit weird at the moment, but if you squint your eyes up at it, I think you can appreciate the effect I'm trying to achieve. The faces don't really look much like us, but I'm not sure I *want* them to. It's less about faithfully reproducing our faces than creating an overall impression.

*sigh*

I need to arrange my life so that I can do more of this...