Leaving a Portrait of a sad punk ballerina Artist’s hand painted print made to order in five sizes

Leaving Artist’s Hand Painted Prints are taken from the original Painting Leaving by Derbyshire-based Scottish Artist John McDonald.

Leaving is a high quality digital print of the artist’s original painting, which is then lovingly hand painted by the artist, including detail and larger area work.

This means that every portrait is unique, and looks like a real painting. Leaving is made to order for you, in a size to suit your room and budget, and includes the artist’s authentic signature. After signing, the work is twice varnished to protect from dust and UV light.

Leaving portrait is available as a high quality hand painted digital print on canvas with wooden stretcher bars.

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Leaving is a key portrait in John McDonald’s West End Girls series which portrays some of the inspirational women of the West End of Derby. Each painting is a portrait which is a likeness, but which goes beyond naturalism.

John’s background in theatre, performance and stage direction is really evident in the West End Girls series. Each person, as the subject of the painting, becomes a character in a staged setting. Through the role in which they are cast, the subject of the painting is revealed.

Leaving depicts ‘Emma’ wearing a tutu for a sad punk. John actually commissioned the making of a classical ballet tutu in order to create this portrait, but it is not a ballerina, or a ballet portrait. Emma is depicted with a sad or painful expression, wearing the tutu, with a pair of unlaced Doctor Martens boots. The character looks as though she is a sculpture herself, come to life and about to step off her plinth, right out of the painting.

The palette is created in beautiful, subtle, natural tones of warm sepia and greys. The Leaving character is portrayed as though she were on stage, with two pools of light from spotlights creating the impression of wings, and, despite the evident sadness of this work, there is a playfulness in the shadows that calls to mind Peter Pan trying to catch his own shadow.

MADE TO ORDER

COPYRIGHT © by John McDonald. All rights reserved by the artist. Any and all publishing and reproduction rights are retained solely by the artist. This image is not to be re-distributed, copied, imitated or misappropriated without written consent of the artist.