And After All...It's My Wonder Wall.

Almost a year and a half ago, I was on holiday and contemplating my next mural.  The target was my stairwell wall and I had many, many ideas for the space.  Mostly I wanted a superhero flying up my stairs.  Or one swinging down.

Batgirl, Supergirl, Superman, Batman and several others came across my mind and I scoured the internet for art I could steal be inspired by.  Hours, then days and weeks of looking and I just couldn't find a picture that spoke to me.

Finally I found this.

 

 

A truly lovely piece by George Perez.  I thought she'd be perfect flying up my wall.

 

So, I did a little work with a ruler, a little print out of the original in the size I wanted (6 feet tall she is!) and a smaller reference piece (Thanks Chuck, your printer was invaluable!) and I was off.

 

As you might guess by the fact that it took almost 18 months, it wasn't nearly as easy as I had thought.  I spent a lot of nights painting and retouching.  Finished it (I think. I may do some retouch and revisit, but I hope I can leave it.) tonight.

 

So, I will spare you the 45 (!) pix I took over the course of the project.



 

How about 14?  Just to give you the flavour of the progression.  It's not George Perez by the end.  After all this time, this one's my own, for good or ill.  George was just the jumping off point.

 

Here you go.  Hope you like.  I certainly do.  You may click-ee make big-ee any of these.

 

 



 

 

First, a splash of colour.  A taste.

 





 

 

Just the base colours.  Actually looks kinda nice like this.  There were days I wished I'd stopped here.

 



 

 

First highlights.  A bit of dark red, dark blue and some work on the bracelets.

 



 

 

And now you see why I avoid flesh tones.  I work in acrylic and they can be a nightmare.

 



 

 

A lot of work on the legs and a bit on the bustier.

 



 

 

Worked hard to get the gold on the bustier right.  Very, very happy with it, the belt and boots.

 



 

 

Upper body work.  At this point my optimism is returning.

 



 

 

A lot of touch ups.  The black hair is the most obvious change but there's a lot of tweeks here.

 



 

 

The face looks very, very off here.  Part of the process.

 

 

 

Here the face looks a little better.  At this point I stopped for a year.  Seriously. 

 



 

 

It was the hands.  I HATE painting hands.  Tonight I finally took the plunge.  Touches to the face too.

 



 

 

I also hate painting hair.  But, I'm very happy with the result.  I took a more Linda Carter approach to the face and it's not exactly what I envisioned at the outset, but overall I like it.  I didn't do the stars on the pants and I don't think I will.  Just not a fan of 'em.

 

All in all, a big, challenging and ultimately pretty rewarding bit of graffiti on my stairwell wall.

 

I'd love a comment or two!