Abuse in Care Homes

Just as my dear old 95 year old mother has to go into a nursing home, I get asked to illustrate 'Abuse in Care Homes' for London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. I've illustrated similar material for other councils before - the material aiming to empower people to Say No to abuse and confide in someone they trust (harder for those who can't speak for themselves).

New House Painting

This is the latest 'house' painting that I'm working on. The Matthews family bid for it in a fundraising auction at St John's school, Highbury Vale, a couple of years ago. They wanted to wait until their youngest child (on the pillar, on the right) wasn't just a baby, so now I'm ready to work on the painting.

I emailed jpegs of the pencil stage (this photo shows a detail of just the family, the painting will include their house behind) to the family, adjusting proportions, expressions etc until all were happy with this stage.

I give people the choice of a painting with details picked out in crayon, or inked. The Matthews have gone for an inked version (the inked stage shown in the scan above). I spent most of yesterday doing this (my influences for this style were Carl Larsson and Herge).