Jake Dennys.
Portrait artist in Shrewsbury
I don't have a studio or anywhere fancy to paint; just a small home in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. I'm completely self taught. Never taken an art class, never watched a tutorial. Everything you see has been the result of endless trial and error.
I did my first painting during lockdown of 2020 and I've never looked back.
Concept
Concept
Concept
I'll sit for hours on my iPad, adding a pentagram here, an upside cross there, until it looks just right. I use this time to experiment freely with a planned piece.
Sketch
Concept
Concept
The base sketch in my opinion is the most important part for me. I map out an outline and where all of the darkest and lightest points are.
Paint
Concept
Paint
Once the sketch is finished, the painting begins. This is of course the longest part of the process. I put my favourite music on and enter a weird trance.
Inspiration
I have always loved tattoos. When I was growing up I would look at the guys with the full sleeves and just be blown away. Then one day my brother came home with the coolest tattoo I had ever seen. It was by a Swedish born tattoo artist called 'Phatt German'. I remember being so, so jealous that I couldn't afford one.
I got saving my little pennies until I could afford a sleeve of my own. I loved the detailed black and white realism and the way Phatt German could bring it all together in a bold, striking, tattoo sleeve that stands the test of time.
I would sit there for hours just watching Phatt German work and seeing how it all comes together. All of my paintings are heavily inspired by 'realism' tattoo-style art and you can see this mostly in my later pieces.
I had a go at tattooing my leg in a different tattoo shop on a whim and the results were... Not good.
Getting my first tattoo, 2017.
My first painting
I did my first ever painting during the lockdown of 2020. There it is and as you can see, it's pretty shit. I was sat in my one bed flat scratching my head for things to do. I'd gone for a run, I'd gone for a walk, I'd finished work, I'd lifted weights, I'd watched some TV. Now what? What the hell do I do? I felt completely lost.
This feeling of 'lost' just grew and grew and grew. My fiancé and I started trying all sorts of things to keep ourselves entertained. We messed around with clay, dabbled in yoga and even made candles, but none of it clicked for me. Then one day I thought "I want to paint a picture of Tenby."
Tenby is a little seaside town on the south coast of Wales. It's a special place for me. As children me and my brother would go there with my parents and it's there that I have some of my favourite and most intense childhood memories. I still go there now every year for my birthday and I even proposed to my fiancé on the famous 'Tenby South Beach'.
From this simple painting, everything just spiralled into this amazing journey of self-progression.
My first painting, March 2020.