Jackie Edwards Art: From Mexico to Ferrara, Italy, the Making of a Painting Collection.

Hi folks,
When you take a look at a piece of art, a painting, do you ever think of what goes into actually making the piece from the very start?

It is not always the case that one stands in front of the easel and begins, just starts painting, although that happens very successfully, I would like to share with you my own inspiration and planning of a piece before I actually start painting with the brush, how much work goes into just one painting, indeed the collection I am embarking on right now.

How do I make a painting?

Here goes......

A very brief introduction to the inspiration behind my Frida Kalo collection.

In 2016 I was in Mexico, and fell in love with the place. I wanted to make a collection of paintings from the inspiration I got there.
Everybody LOVES Frida Kahlo...including me, but I only got around to start my Frida Inspired painting late last year.

'I've Got a Strong Urge to Fly'

Oil/ Egg Tempera on Line/ Wooden Panel

My first piece in this collection is 'Ive Got a Strong Urge to Fly'...

A little about this piece;

While I was doing an artist residency in St.Stephen's Green, Dublin, and Italian student agreed to pose for some paintings....not Italy...not Mexico....but Dublins fair city is where I began my Frida paintings! One would of expected that I would have a model pose..and rightly so in Mexico, and indeed, a wonderful model did pose, but I did not get the time to plan this collection and my model there, stunning as well, has posed for other paintings. I did photo shoots there so I can make the paintings from them at a later date.

Indeed, in Dublin during my residency, I had met Lucrezia, and she posed for a photo shoot wearing the best we could find at the time, that looked like the Frida images that we saw on the internet!

So, at last I set about making up the composition and I painted the first piece in late 2018.

When I presented this to my representing gallery in Dublin, they asked for me to make a series. Bingo- at last- I get to do my Frida collection!

It gets better.. they also asked that I use the same model.

My model is an Italian yound lady studying hard at university in FERRARA, Italy....

So, here I am in Ferrara, writing this blog. I arrived yesterday, and tomorrow, my model and I get to work

But the work started well before I got to Italy. To do a Frida painting, for me, takes planning.

I have been busy fining and doing quick sketches of how I would like the paintings to look..

At first, a rough idea. Then I decided about 6-7 paintings, and got started selecting the images for each painting.

For these I needed clothes and headdresses that best represented Frida, so I set about sourcing materials, scarfs, flowers for the hair, headdresses, not an easy task, I like my painting to be detailed, so I had to get the colours and clothes just right.

I was very lucky that a dear friend had some beautiful fabrics and lace, as well I found some in second hand shops and also had some things in my own house. I sewed and made my own costumes..

Here are some