Can old crumbly walls and concrete floors be inspiring? They can be if you’re an artist and they are especially inspiring to Andy Mayers. We’ve selected ‘Fish and Chips’ as our ‘Artwork of the Week’. We asked Andy about his inspirations and creative process in this weeks interview.
Where did you get your inspiration from?
The inspiration for this piece came from a trip to Tenby in South Wales. Fish and chip shops are a feature of just about every town in the UK, and I always think chips taste best, in the outdoors, and especially by the sea.
I enjoy drawing and painting people, chip shops are usually located in a busy part of the town with people walking past, people ordering and people milling about outside, so it was an ideal location for me.
My work tends to feature colours and textures, and I think that attracted me to this building, although it looks freshly painted, it is obviously an old building with character and I hope I have reflected this through the textures and the exaggerated and wonky perspective.
What is your creative process?
I start with pencil sketches, some of which will find their way into the image. I like to use photos of texture as a canvas to start on. Yes, I am one of those weird people you see photographing old crumbly walls and concrete floors. This image shows a wall with paint flaking off, which was taken nearby.
The image is then built up with several paintings of the scene, some looser and some more detailed. These layers are then masked and merged together in a way that can only be achieved digitally.
How long did it take you to produce?
The image would have taken 6 to 8 hours to produce over a period of a couple of weeks.
View more of Andy Mayers inspirational artwork.
