Help me raise £1,000 for Oxfam by painting

For the last three years I’ve been painting pictures of video games to help raise funds for both Child’s Play and Oxfam, you can see some of my paintings here and here. I’ve just recently completed my list of requests, and have now set myself a target of raising £1,000 for Oxfam, by doing 20 paintings in exchange for a minimum £50 donation each, plus costs of materials and postage.

For anyone who would like me to paint something for them: I am accepting requests from now until Saturday 2^nd July at 12:00 noon BST. Once that deadline has passed, I’ll then make a selection of paintings I’d like to paint from all the emails I have received. Any that don’t make the cut, but I like anyway, will go onto a reserve list in case someone drops out.

It’s going to be a bit different than last time, in that there are only 20 places available on my Oxfam painting list. This is so I don't get inundated with painting requests, and end up with a waiting list that took over 3 years to complete. I'm going to choose the paintings I do based on how much I like them.

Here’s how to submit your request:

Email me at canvasandpaints@gmail.com with the following information:

• Label the subject heading “Oxfam painting”
• Your name and address.
•  How you found out about my paintings.
• A link to at least one hi-res image of what you want me to paint, and if possible, a you tube link if it’s from a game (the picture to be in line with the "I won't paint anything violent, exploitative or offensive and I get to decide that, not you." rule. If in doubt, pick another image.)
•  A commitment from you to donate a minimum of £50 to Oxfam. I will send you a link to the Oxfam Virgin Money Giving website once I have decided to paint you a picture. As soon as I tell you I am ready to start your painting, you will donate the money.
•  A commitment to make a payment into my Paypal account for the costs of canvas, postage and packing, before I start the painting for you.
• You will have a choice of postage costs, which as well as varying dependent on where you live, will depend on which postal service you opt for. We can talk about your options once I’ve chosen your painting. Within the UK, costs will be around £15 - £20, the rest of the world will be between £25 - £35. I will wrap each canvas in polystyrene, bubble wrap and brown paper.

What you will get from me:

• Once you have a place on the list, I will let you know when to expect your painting.
•   I will paint your picture on either stretched canvas, or canvas board, depending on the size of the image I paint. Most paintings I do are on 40 cm x 50 cm stretched canvas, but that depends on the ratio of height to width of your source image - sometimes I adjust the painting, sometimes I use longer or narrower canvas.
•  If you want a painting larger than 40cm x 50cm, postage and canvas costs will be significantly more, if you want a smaller painting, costs will be less, but I will always let you know costs before I start.
•  I will post regular updates of your painting's progress on canvas and paints, and on Twitter, @CanvasandPaints so you can see how it’s getting on.
• As soon as I have finished your painting, and it has thoroughly dried out, I will post it to you.

The reason I’m asking for payment up front is a) I can’t afford to have someone not pay me for the postage costs (thankfully, most people have) and b) I want to be sure people really do donate to Oxfam (thankfully, again, most people have).

Here is the Oxfam donation page, in case you just feel like making a donation to Oxfam.

Final Fantasy VII pencil outline

I was reading on another painting blog recently about pencil outlining versus grey paint lining an outline. I rub out so much, I'd be scared of painting an outline, but it's something I think I'll try in the future. I'll post the result!


Anyway, here's the pencil outline:

Left hand side:

Right hand side:

Turkish doors

Question: what do Turkish doors have to do with video games? 


Answer: Nothing. 


What they have to do with is open-hearted generosity:


My husband lost his job 12 weeks ago, and has yet to obtain another; he's getting interviews, but no job yet. Our best friends are going on holiday very soon, with another couple, one of whom is too ill to go, so they have had to pull out. 


They said to our best friends to take someone else, instead, so they've invited us. We could not afford this holiday normally, never mind whilst without the major wage earner in our family having a job, but we've been given this wonderful holiday. 


We couldn't pay for the holiday, nor have they asked us to, it is a gift to us; we could not afford to buy them a valuable gift, so instead, I'm painting something as a thank you. 


The couple who have given us the holiday don't play video games, I've been planning a series of paintings on doorways in the world, so this seemed like a good opportunity to start.




Source image:

Here's the pencil outline:

I'll be doing the off-white background first, building it up in stages. I'll update with more pictures as normal.

Final Fantasy VII

This is the next painting I'm doing, its from Final Fantasy VII:

Its very pretty, lots of blue in it, so that will make me a happy bunny! I'll be doing this on a 40cm x 60 cm canvas, and just adding a couple of centimetres to the sides, so as to keep the scale right.


I like painting sky, and I'm feeling more confident with clouds than I used to, so I'm looking forward to starting this.

Cult of Rapture finished!

Its finally done. I really enjoyed painting this, I really do love blue!


Anyway, here's a few pictures of it.


The whole thing:

Top half:

Bottom half:

Cult of Rapture Big Daddy done

I couldn't sleep this morning, and so was up at 6:15 am. It was raining, so I decided to paint for a couple of hours. I've done Big Daddy - there's just a little left on the hose to paint, and then a few other little bits. Then it's on to Little Sister, and the painting will be finished!