The Return of Rui

Model: Rui Ferreira

I waited in for the postman to deliver a new pair of boots – consequently I left the house a little later than usual. Lazily I hopped on a bus instead of tramping down the hill. Splayed across the nearest seat to me was a copy of the nothing-to-read free rag Metro. It looked like a workable canvas so I shoved it in my bag...

Photograph: Rui Ferreira

Our model for the next three sessions is Rui, model, artist and underpants ripper, who you might remember from this painting. The organisers couldn't stay so they stuck a stick in his hand and gave him a carpet remnent to hold and left us to our own devices.

As usual I had planned to devote the entirety of first session purely to sketching, but by the time we reached the half time break I was feeling a bit bored...

Ruid all about it!

I had brought some black and white acrylics - I thought it might be fun to try sketching with paint. So, after a cheese and pickle sandwich and a bit of battenberg cake, I decided to paint Rui's head and shoulders on the cover of Metro. The thing with Rui is that everyone concentrates on his ripped physique, many don't even bother with or get around to his face. So I eschewed the perfect pecs and concentrated on his head alone. I was quite pleased with the result and had fun working with a monochrome palette...

Hold the front page! Rui reading...

...mind you, I can't leave Rui looking like a spooky vampire can I?

Having the unusual situation of having the model in almost perfect profile and the silly stick at an almost perfect horizontal, my crazy jumble sale mind suggested tesselation; tiling my childish sketch...

Preparatory Sketch · Dick Wittington: "25 miles to London and still no sign of pussy"

...it's a trick I've played before with "Gay Jesus". My ineptitude ensures that each repetition is non-identical and has its own unique personality. In some ways it makes a virtue of a potential problem – regardless of a model's professionalism, their expression changes throughout the sitting.

Underpainting

I added the CMYK swatch as a nod to my printerly past - is cool no? I love the hidden world of print-quality regalia! You may have flattened a cereal box, prior to slinging it in the recycling box, and come across some of these secret symbols. In the light of digital presses these emblems are almost extinct now.

And now... some real art for a change...

You might recall that I mentioned that Rui was an accomplished artist in his own right. He very kindly sent me these photographs of some of his awsome sculptural work:

'The Fountain of Youth' (left) and 'Tomb' (right) by Rui Ferreira · Photographs: Jessica Blackwood

You can read more about these works here.