Elected as An Associate Member of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters (The Journey)

My journey and passion with Oil colour started while I was at Yaba College of Technology between 1992-1997. It was where I discovered this wonderful medium, up till then I had only painted in water based media.

ROI 2007- The painting Rush Hour III won the First Prize in the Winsor & Newton Under 35 Category. 

I can't remember the exact year but something tells me it was in 1993! I heard a lot about the prolific painters in the Higher National Diploma classes while I was doing my National Diploma in General Art, from other art students in my class. They told me to ask politely to get a chance to watch them paint! I tried peeping through the windows first, but the windows were too high up! One day, a day that would be the day I got "trapped" in this medium was an afternoon when so many of these guys were painting pictorial compositions directly from sketches they had composed from life and imagination in their sketchbooks. They had massive palettes all placed out with juicy blobs of oil colour pressed out on them in a very orderly manner. Some of them had also mixed all the tones of each of the colours they were going to use to paint! The smell in the room was terrific! Turps and Linseed reeked in the whole place! I saw these guys absorbed completely in their paintings with various sized hog brushes bashing against their large canvases, the least sized canvas in the studio was a 24" by 36". These guys were bold with colour!! I was allowed to sit at the back and watch for a while, until I couldn't hold it again! I just shouted, "SEE COLOUR!!!"- which was a Nigerian way of saying, LOOK AT THOSE WONDERFUL COLOURS!!! That was it! From then, they would nickname me, "See Colour". That was the day I would decide to specialize in Painting! That was the day I got hooked on Oil Colour!

It's 20 years since I got introduced to the medium and I remember doing my first Oil painting in 1994 or there about. I accepted a commission to do 3 Oil paintings and I had never used the medium. I took up the challenge, gave it my best shot and my friend who commissioned me to do the work, paid me N800. That would be about £8.00 in today's Pound Sterling! But N800 was a great bonus for me and I went on to sell more work and win major art competitions where I was awarded N15,000(£100) in 1996! So I was thrilled with my improvement!

ROI 2008- Felt really great, My painting Rush Hour IV was hung in the main gallery next to Past President- Dennis Syrett's painting!!

Then in 1999 I came back to London, where I was born, to continue my life and see if I could further my career.  But when I came over it was a total shock! The culture shock was too much for me to handle! I went to the job centre in search of something I could do and it was a great disappointment!  I couldn't get to do anything but menial jobs, so while doing menial jobs-I decided never to stop sketching even if I couldn't get back to painting.  I later volunteered to share my art skills with homeless people at St Mungos in 1999 and I did that for 6 months after which I got a temporary job there.  I later got a permanent job working with homeless people from 2001-2008. I would one day become full time painter in 2008, till date!

 When I got enough money to buy my first set of oil colours in the UK, I was so pleased, that would have been around 2000 or 2001. Then the magic started again! I started painting portraits and I started getting commissions too, in oil!

In 2003 I decided to do a Diploma in Portraiture at the Heatherley's School of Fine Art in Chelsea. There, the tutors enlightened me greatly on how to mix and use oil colour properly, more than I had ever known before. Alongside this, I would buy loads of instructional books on Oil painting- The Best being Alla Prima, everything I know about Oil Painting by Richard Schmid. It was an Artist called Z. S. Liang that recommended the book to me after contacting him for advice on how to kick start my Oil painting on another level and I must say, this book completely gave me everything I needed to know about the usage of this medium. I don't know how many times I have read it, I still read it every now and then, it is a book one can refer to in a life time. The only thing I am yet to do in it, is the almighty colour charts, which my painter friend David Pilgrim cracked and he is now a Full Member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. 

ROI 2009- Great feeling again as my Painting , "Summer Light, Clapham Common wins The Artist Magazine Award!

Immediately I left Heatherley's I decided to take up entering into competitions and open exhibitions at the Mall Galleries. The first society that I got my work into was the Pastel Society, in 2006! Then I got into the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Royal Society of British Artists! I was so pleased that I finally tried the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 2006. I was encouraged to take part because in 2005, one of the students from my Portrait class at Heatherley's won the 2nd or 3rd Prize in the Under 35 category. So I put in 2 works but none got in! I wasn't discouraged because one of them had a D, which means it was judged and then rejudged before it didn't make it into the final selection.



So I thought if I could get a D in my first attempt, I'll do much better work and see what would happen. In 2007, I entered 2 paintings: one of a Homeless guy and one of my Rush Hour Paintings. The Homeless Painting was Rejected BUT The RUSH HOUR painting was accepted and won the First Prize in the Under 35 category! I was over the moon! That was the first time I would get  a painting into the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition and the last time I would be able to compete in the Under 35 category. It was a great boost for me to win and ever since then up till 2012, I have exhibiting regularly with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

ROI 2010- My painting at Norfolk was one of the paintings I did in my First Instructional DVD! You can get a copy of it with Town House Films.

In 2009 I was made a Provisional member and then in 2012 at the Annual General Meeeting after the December show I was elected an Associate Member! The journey has been long since I first discovered the medium and I am so glad to be associated with such a prestigious society!

ROI 2011-Great feeling again as my painting of "The Face of Homelessness, Kings Road" is one of the first to sell, even before the Private View starts!

I am also thrilled to be taking part in my first exhibition as an Associate member in April this year, at the A K Wilson Gallery. I'll update you with the details when the time is near.

ROI 2012- Great feeling as my painting "The Face of Homelessness, Earls Court" gets hung in the main gallery alongside Roger Dellar, A prolific painter and member of the RI and PS.

SPECIAL QUOTE
"Never ever give up! You might be down today, feeling low, but don't let that feeling affect your tomorrow!"-Adebanji Alade

The Face of Homelessness Sloane Square

This is a another guy in my series of the "Face of Homelessness"- meeting Steve and getting to know his story of how he was homeless and has now been able to get accommodation is a very uplifting one!
He sells the Big Issue at Sloane Square and I have sketched him on a number of occasions.

In this painting, I wanted to capture to look in his eyes. It's the main thing that brings out his character as a very genuine chap.  As with the other posts in this series, I have worked with The Zorn Palette-which consists of Titanium White, Yellow Orche, Cadmium Red and Ivory Black.

I have worked on this piece in one sitting in Alla Prima and I took some stage shots during the process. These stage shots are definitely not a step by step process but they are just stages at which the painting developed.

It was hard getting the right colours of this painting with my camera and if I am able to get a better picture a later date, I will surely adjust the one below.

The Face of Homelessness Sloane Square, Oil on board, 12" x 16", 2012

Sketch of Steve

Adebanji sketching Steve

Steve with the sketch

Stage 1- Here I have toned the canvas with a light mixture of yellow orche and black, and I do a bit of plotting lines to help with the positioning of the portrait. The canvas has been divided into four parts with diagonals in each rectangle.

Stage 2- I start the sketch with the swift use of a mongoose brush dipped into paint and Liquin to help it dry fast.  All those sketchy arrows just show the direction I'll be painting the background strokes in, to lead the viewers eye into the centre of interest-"his eyes"

Stage 3- Here I start using the shape by shape method of "inside out"-starting from one place inside the face and gradually moving out.

Stage 4- The face was almost complete at this stage and I began to have a sense of the whole piece at this stage

Stage 5- With the face completed, I gradually move to the background  to see how it works with the face and I'm quite pleased.

Stage 6-I continue with the background on the left following the directions,  I had plotted earlier in the preliminary sketch

Stage 7- This is the final stage where I take stock, I think  I got a bit of the anatomy wrong on the right side of his cheek, but after a few struggles which remained unresolved, I had to leave it to a later date.

 SPECIAL QUOTE
"Very early in life, I fell in love with the landscape of the human face, where all the emotional states of life are to be found, and that affair has not faltered"-Burton Silverman

The Face of Homelessness, London Bridge

This is another guy I encountered at London Bridge. He was actually begging inside London Bridge Station and this isn't allowed. Sometimes the homeless get away with it. So I didn't have much time to stay with him before he was moved on by the Travel Police.

The Face of Homelessness, London Bridge, 12" x 12", Oil on Board, 2012

 He had the kind of face that I always love to paint and explore. I started this by doing 3 studies from random close shots I took from different angles, to see which one I would love to expand on.

3 studies for the Face of Homelessness, London Bridge,- I just decided to play around with shapes, temperature, drawing and a bit of colour planning. This was purely an experiment and the freedom here helped me to get fired up for the main piece. In some ways I enjoyed  the fluidity here than the way I approached the main piece.

Once I finished these studies, I was able to make up my mind on which one to work on.

These are a few stage shots. The photos are not that clear but at least shows a bit of my procedure here.

Stage 1- I started this piece very tentatively, I wasn't really sure on what method to use in my approach.  So  I started playing around with values, as if I working with pastel. In fact, I would have just stopped here, because I really liked the statement of his face. I think everything I needed to say had been said here! But I couldn't resist completing it, probably to the death of the piece......Sometimes I guess it just right to know when to stop!

Stage 2- Here, things begin to make more sense. I seem to have resolved the face and I'm tempted to leave the under-painting as the face average tone. I think it works so well with the rest of the applications. Up till now, because I am still trying to work things out, I don't use thick paint as usual but thinned paint.

Stage 3- This is the final stage- I  switch from thin to thick  here and  I  paint shape by shape-until the whole surface is covered with thick paint. I work in some calligraphic strokes into the background -these strokes have words on homelessness worked into the background.

I am using the Zorn Palette here, which consists of Titanium White, Yellow Orche, Cadmium Red and Ivory Black. I am working on a Masonite board toned with a warm orange tint.

SPECIAL QUOTE
"I cannot  stress enough that the answer to life's problems is in peoples faces. Try putting your IPhones  down once in a while, and look in people's faces. Peoples faces will tell you amazing things. Like if they are angry, nauseous or asleep."-Amy Poehler

The Face of Homelessness Kings Road II

 To start off this post, I  have some good news I can't keep to myself, even though I'm going to do a separate post on this later, but I'm pleased to announce that I was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters!!  It was an early Christmas present-as I got a phone call from The President on Sunday the 23rd of December, last year (I just had to chip this in)....;0) and received a confirmation letter this week from the Secretary!

The Face of Homelessness Kings Road II, Oil on Board, 2012

I'm continuing this year with my project on the Face of Homelessness Series that I started last year. I still have a few more to post. In these pieces, I normally show my painting process and this particular painting has a slightly different approach. I am used to painting  with the "inside-out" method, in which I just start from a particular point inside the painting and then spread out. But in this painting, I adopted the "outside-in" method, I have started from the outside areas and then I have finished off, inside. This method is a more Traditional way of approaching Oil painting. In which one starts with Lean colour (Oil colour  mixed with more mineral spirits or turps and less Linseed Oil) and then gradually finishing off with Fat colour(Oil Colour mixed with more Linseed Oil or just pure Oil Colour straight from the Tube and less Turps or mineral spirits).

Richard with the Sketch I did of him, in Oil Base Pencil

I have painted this guy before, click HERE to see. This is my second attempt. Above, is a picture of Richard with the sketch I did in Oil Base Pencil.

Stage 1-without any definite drawing, I go straight into this head with  paint and turps, the paint is almost watercolour like. The ability to sketch freely helps here, as all the proportions and measurements are quickly assumed while painting.  I start with light values and increase them as I go along. This method reveals a lot about the versatility of oil. If I wasn't planning to take this further, I would have loved to just stop here! I love the bleeding and dripping and lean oil application. Everything is attacked. In other words, the full painting is seen almost right from the start. It's a good method to use but I really enjoy painting shape by shape more, as it makes me full of anticipation of how it will all come out to be. 

Stage 2- this is the stage where I switch from lean to fat. you can see the difference in application around the eye and cheek areas. I already have a base to work on, so it's easier to pull the strokes on the solid underpainting done below.

Stage 3-Here I attack his hair, it's the most precious part of the painting. His hair is what drew me to him in the first place and I really pound on pure oil with vigorous strokes here. Each stroke is placed with keen observation and also with a flair of emotion, I always like the interesting parts, like his hair, to tell a story. So, I forget I'm painting hair and just feel I'm painting rugged branches on an old tree. It takes me away from thinking normal!

Stage 4-With the hair completed, I take on a bit of the background with  strokes to echo  a bit of the texture in his hair.  I could have stopped here too, but I couldn't resist working on his beard with thick colour too!

Stage 5- Finally I complete the background with some words and calligraphy  embedded into the  background . These words are positive words to overcome homelessness. Lest I forget. The whole painting was done with the Zorn Palette-(Titanium White, Yellow Orche, Cadmium Red and Ivory Black)

This is a picture of the painting in progress with the palette and  mixtures.

SPECIAL QUOTE
"You get motivated by doing things, not thinking about them. Action gets you excited and action reveals opportunity. Take the plunge".- Andrew Matthews

The Face of Homelessness, Earls Court

The Face of Homelessness, Earls Court, Oil on Board, 12" x 16", 2012

I'm back to my series of Homeless faces and sketches on public Transport, I'll also be posting some of my recent plein air work too. This particular piece was accepted into the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries. I am happy I was able to get this one in. Also I am happy I have some stage shots to share my thought process at different stages of the painting.

 Standing beside my painting at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition at The Mall Galleries

I met Macky briefly while walking along Earls Court Road, I must have passed him, when I walked back and pleaded with him if he would allow me sketch him. He agreed but only gave me five minutes. He was happy with the sketch and allowed me also to take a picture. I then worked from those references in the studio.

STAGE 1-Nothing here, but a lot goes on  before. I am using a Winsor & Newton Canvas Board. But to remove most of the coarse texture, I sand the surface a bit, then I add a light wash of acrylic for a background underpainting. The wash is a mixture of Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna. I really get excited when I look at a ground ready for ACTION!!!

STAGE 2- This is where I love the painting process, the sketch stage! I really get into the spirit of a sketcher at this stage. I'm working on the drawing with the tip of a sable brush but also getting the slight temptations to start the painting proper. Its a combination of both! I really wish I could stop the painting at this stage. The sketch stage just has a beauty of its own that is beyond explanation. The lyrical line and the connecting of shapes in their preliminary form makes this stage a delight. I am using the Anders Zorn palette-which consists of Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red and Ivory Black. I am getting really addicted to this palette, it's simple and helps me to get the most of a basic primary combination. 

STAGE 3- At this point I introduce the background and start to connect shapes around the edges of the face, leaving the main facial features of eyes, nose and mouth till later. I'm thinking of the general colour scheme and muted tones of his hat that will bring out the more vibrant tones on his face later on. I am painting in thick oil colour with no medium, straight from the tube and just moving along. I think I added a bit of Liquin to help the colours dry quickly, I forgot that.

STAGE 4- Here I get into the face proper! I just love his face! There's a feel of curiosity in there! My main goal is to place all the shapes with  brushstrokes that define the form and follow the movement across the structure of his face. I almost treat his face like a landscape-following the undulating ups and downs and reacting to the turns and wrinkles the way I would approach the topography of a landscape. I think it's worthy to note that the ability to sketch comes in very handy while painting the face. Every stroke is a sketch stroke! Life becomes really exciting when one just concentrates and conforms to the rhythm of each twist and turn with the tip of the brush-it's what I love in painting...it's hard to separate from sketching. Edges are another important thing to note here-in simple terms, I paint what is in front, last, so that it reads as something in front. This comes in handy when thinking about his coat.

STAGE 5-Here I get more definition into his face and connect all the loose shapes and rough edges together. That's the main change here.

STAGE 6- I was very careful not to paint his clothes in any kind of   colour that would distract attention from his face. I made sure all the colours here were of the most mysterious and muted greys. The collar of his coat was my emphasis here and I wanted it to have a life of its own. I added texture with a few calligraphic strokes.

STAGE 7-The final bit was the rest of his coat below the collar. The goal was to keep it simple and unobtrusive. Muted greys but varying the tones to keep the interest focused on the face.

SPECIAL QUOTE
"He emphasised the importance of the the rhythm, balance, shape and weight of a composition. Without these qualities a portrait has no meaning. He insisted students approached their work on an emotional and poetic level rather than concentrating purely on technique. He tried to instill his view that if a work of art can move an audience through its emotional substance then it achieved its purpose."- Micheal Simonow on KEN PAINE, his life & work

The Face of Homelessness, Southeastern Trains

The Face of Homelessness, Southeastern Trains, Oil on Board, 2012

This is another in my series of the Face of homelessness. This was a homeless guy I encountered on the trains. His face was just simply irresistible, I was drawn but the flow of his hair, his strong and prominent cheek bones and his beard.

The original Sketch I did on the trains-this was done with a Black BIC Ball point Pen and  the N75 TOMBOW Dual wash pen for the tones.

STAGE 1-I really take my time to get a really accurate drawing here, this is because the head is at an angle and there are so many different tilts. I had to connect all these marks in relationship to other parts just to make sure they aligned up properly. The sketch is done in willow charcoal and fixed before paint is applied.

STAGE 2-Using the Zorn palette of Ivory Black, Cadmium Red, Yellow Orche and Titanium White,  I go straight into painting moving shape by shape, filling each part and moving along. Again, this is the inside-out-technique. in this painting, I decide to be a bit more loose and vigorous with my brushstrokes to bring in some character to the piece.

STAGE 3-At this stage I had finished. I ran out of Ivory black in the middle of this painting, I had to mix up another puddle of black with Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson and Viridian Green. But I noticed it didn't have the right qualities of an original black, as it gave most of my mixtures a bluish green cast. But in the end I was still satisfied with the result.

SPECIAL QUOTE
It takes some amount of boldness to follow ones passion. It takes a fair amount of courage to keep going. But in the end it's when all odds are against you and you can keep believing, that you prove to even yourself-The miracle within! That miracle is YOU!-Adebanji Alade

The Face of Homelessness, Piccadilly

This is a guy I did a drawing of in my Big Issue Series and I decided to add him to the Face of Homelessness because of his amazing beard-you can hardly see his mouth and it really conceals his identity.
I saw him recently at St James Street and his beard was even longer, I hope to approach him to make a sketch of him with a longer version of his beard.

The Face of Homelessness, Piccadilly, 12" x 12", Oil on Board, 2012

I did take some stage shots of this one and I also have the drawing I did of him in the Big Issue Series.

This is a drawing I did of him in 2011, It was done in oil based pencils on gessoed card. the gessoed pencils I have used are black and sanguine.

These stages are not step by step procedures of doing this kind of painting, but they are just shots at different stages while the painting is in progress. I think there's so much that happens during the process of a painting that it would be hard to break it down into a step by step procedure.

Again using the Anders Zorn palette, I first plot the position I'll like the portrait to be on the canvas by using squares and diagonals.

I plan to give this portrait a bit of "edginess" by placing the face totally off the centre.  I feel his face has a feel of  concealed identity, so I think this will enhance the idea. I sketch with a mixture of black and red on a gessoed board that has a tint of light brownish orange to it.

The full sketch is now complete, I am quite pleased with the position.

Here, I start applying paint, I actually started from the left eye and I moved out  to the rest of the face moving to the right. It is the shape by shape method of just filling in each space with thick colour, this colour is not diluted with any medium.

Moving to the right, I add some of the suggestion of the background  and keep the paint thick and workable , I constantly make sure every stroke I make is a drawing stroke to help in the accuracy of the piece.

I really loved painting his hair and moving on to the rest of the his clothes, I left the best part to last, that was  his beard.. These pictures just show the way I work and how it all comes together just through little shapes of colour. It's the INSIDE- OUT Technique.

SPECIAL QUOTE

"....Skill has become a commodity, a very affordable commodity, and possibly, as a consequence, has been devalued. This may be in part the reason why we still turn to the unique, hand-crafted portrait, because in its very form, it remains a metaphor for the uniqueness of the individual depicted. "-Anthony Connolly, Painting Portraits