Custom painting, Sydney Skyline
For more than ten years, I have been painting cityscapes — from Hong Kong and New York to Paris. So when a client asked me to paint Sydney, I knew it would be something special!
Sydney is one of my favourite cities in the world. I always feel a special warmth when I return. I had painted the city several times before, but every new painting gives me a different way of seeing a familiar place.
When I work on a cityscape, I always start with recent photos of the city. I look at how the skyline has changed and what new architecture has appeared. This helps me keep the city recognisable while making the painting feel like Sydney as it is today.
The Client’s Vision and Feelings
We chose the size together, as the painting was going to take the central place on the main wall of the client's living room.
The client knew exactly what kind of sunset he wanted. He asked for a sky filled with pink and orange, inspired by the evenings he enjoys in the park after work. Purple is his favourite colour, so it also became an important part of the palette.
For him, capturing the atmosphere of Sydney was more important than reproducing its architecture exactly. We chose a view that brings two sides of the city together, connected by the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This gave me enough space to work with the sky, colour and atmosphere while keeping the city immediately recognisable.
Once we agreed on the palette and composition, I moved on to the sketch.
The Sky in Layers
The sky became one of the most important parts of the painting. The client wanted textured clouds with a strong sense of volume, rather than a smooth, flat sunset.
He was particularly drawn to the wide, gradient strokes I use in my cityscapes. These broad palette-knife movements allow the colours to flow into one another while maintaining the depth of the textured surface. At the sketch stage, I showed the client how the clouds and colour transitions would develop across the canvas, as well as the direction of the palette-knife strokes. Once we agreed on the texture and overall movement, I moved on to the full-scale painting.
From Studio to Its New Home
After almost two months of work, from the first conversation with the client to the finished piece, the Sydney cityscape was complete.
I then prepared it for its new home. I chose a dark wooden floating frame that complemented the colours of the painting without competing with them. The finished work was signed and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.
As usual, I carefully prepared the painting for its journey. The canvas was wrapped in parchment paper, protected with bubble wrap and placed inside a custom-made shipping box created specifically for the work. The box is also recyclable and can be sent for recycling once the painting has arrived safely.
The commission began with the client's vision of a Sydney sunset — its colours, atmosphere and textured sky. My role was to bring these elements together in my own visual language. This Sydney now has a new home — carrying with it the sunset, colours and atmosphere that made this particular view meaningful to its collector.
