I was watching on television Papiss Cisse’s two wonder goals last night against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It reminded of my one and only visit to Chelsea’s ground.
In 2006 two of my clients who are Chelsea fans, commissioned me to do a watercolour painting of Stamford Bridge. They are season ticket holders and wanted a painting of their ground. They invited me to a match so that I could get suitable reference of the fans going to the ground on match day. This was to enable me to produce a painting similar to my successful Toon Army print. I arrived at the ground a couple of hours before kick off so I could do some sketchbook studies and take suitable photos to use as reference.
Chelsea are known for playing in blue. It was important to repeat the colour throughout the painting, not just in the tops that the fans were wearing but also in the sky and elements of the stadium. It was a bright, sunny day. I began the studio painting with a gentle warm wash of Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Lemon to set the tone and mood for the painting. I deliberately kept the brush marks crisp and sharp. This was to keep the architectural elements of the stadium defined and strong. This provided a contrast to the more fluid rendering of the figures making their way to the ground.
The clients decided to reproduce the original watercolour as a limited edition print titled Chelsea, Centenary Champions. It is available on line with only 95 copies in the edition.
Papiss Cisse describes his second goal against Chelsea as his best ever. It has to be of the contenders for goal of the season.