John the Cook

John Briton, the offshore cook. John has spent 42 years offshore. his hobby is keeping fit. He works on the Deep Vision, one of the unsung heroes of the North Sea, serving 4 good meals every day for a crew of around 55 people, a very difficult job when the boat bounces up and down and rolls in the North Sea swell. The painting started with the underpainting where the whole painting was painted in brown earth colours. The tee-shirt shadows were painted in Ultramarine with white scumbled on afterwards. The blood and veins under John's skin were painted in green and then covered with layers of transparent flesh tones, the tattoo was painted straight onto the arm and then transparent flesh tones painted over it.