Green jersey winner 2016 Peter Sagan takes his third stage win arriving at the home of the bear pit, Bern in Switzerland a whisker in front of Kristoff. Certainly, a tour year to remember for Peter Sagan, as after a third place on the first stage, and a win on the second stage he claimed the first yellow jersey of his career.

Confident and eloquent in his speech, maybe the Cantona of cycling? “If I lose yellow, I have green. If I lose the green jersey, I have the rainbow jersey.” Peater Sagan,  declared at a press conference during the 2016 Tour de France.

We are artists

After Stage 11 he’d pulled off another fantastic sprint to upset the then yellow jersey wearer Chris Froome’s plans. When asked why, he said, “We are artists”. So Sagan seemed to deserve a painting to capture a moment in such a strong year and for his wonderful words.

2016 – a very good year

Sagan is shown moving towards his 3rd stage victory in Tour de France 2016, on the 16th stage, finishing in Bern, Switzerland. He beat Norwegian Alexander Kristoff by a whisker. The photo finish camera seemed to be particularly busy during this Tour.

The Slovakian, riding for Russian team Tinkoff, ended the tour with a second place stage win behind Greipel, which meant Sagan was the green jersey winner for 2016. On the 10th stage he had finished second, but it meant he also won the combative award for the efforts he had put in.  So for Sagan 2016 was a very good year.

The Great Bear

Acrylic on 60 x 60 x 2.cm canvas. Chalk-white edges. Ready to buy and hang.

First stage was to paint the canvas pale pink. This gives a foundation to the skin tones that will come much much later in the painting. I then rough brush the top of the canvas in dark colours, and the front of the canvas in light colours. Broad brush strokes. At this point I also did a quick flick of whites to ‘block’ the position of the group and the main wheels to just get a feel for the sit of the picture on the canvas.

Next stage is more stroking with the brush to dull it all down a bit, and do the horizontal patterning in the road and some of the course car and following motorcycle. Then the riders are blocked out with dark or light helmets and dark or light jerseys working from the back (top). Then the arms and faces begin to appear in flesh tones. The front riders jerseys blocked in. An idea of wheels appears. Then it’s another couple of toning layers  including the up streaks of the road, before the final details of glasses, helmets. handlebars and shoes are flicked into place.  The Great Bear is then complete.

Here’s a little slide show of a few work in progress shots. Please like my Facebook Page whilst you are there, thank you.