A Bear on a New Stair

Each year I do a painting for a charity called The Willow Foundation. It goes towards a project called Stars on Canvas: a London exhibition and on-line auction to raise money for seriously ill people and their families, providing them with much-needed, special days out to remember. 

The charity send out 20cm square canvases to all sorts of people, some of them artists like myself, many of them celebrities from all sorts of fields. Everyone creates a piece of art on exactly the same format. 

Last year I did a painting based on Class Two at the Zoo:

The first year I did it things started well, but then I got into all sorts of problems because I didn't really have the right tools for the job. These days I have acrylics, so it's much easier. 

This year I thought I would do Bears on the Stairs, because the little bear would fit the square format rather well. 

Acrylics are still an unfamiliar medium though, as I have just not had enough spare time to get to grips with technique. This little canvas has been a good way of helping me learn how the paint responds. It's very different from watercolour or pastels of course. I enjoyed playing around, trying to get the effects I wanted, without knowing for sure what I was doing. 

This is how he looks, hot off the press:

I wanted to identify the book the character had come from so, like last time, I used the side of the canvas to write the title. The opposite side had a good space for  my name. It was very tricky and fiddly doing the text though - in many ways the hardest bit!

If you would like to make sure you get the chance to buy the rude little bear, or want to see some of the other canvases that will be for sale, here's the info you need. The exhibition / on-line auction are not until November, so there will be more info nearer the time and I'll keep you posted of course.

If you are a painter, illustrator or celeb and would like to have a go at doing your own canvas for the exhibition and auction, the deadline is not until August, so there's still time if you're quick.