Josie paints portraits of familiar characters from the world of TV, Film and Music

Current Series

Pop and Punk

These works depict musicians who significantly influenced me during my formative years during the 1980s and 1990s.

So far I've painted Debbie Harry, Bjork, Poly Styrene, Kate Bush, Madonna, Annie Lennox and Siouxsie Sioux.
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Film and TV Icons

This is an on-going project started in 2007. I painted this series with the aim of making contemporary actors appear as iconic as the stars of the silver screen.
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Real People

My Real People series consists of paintings of my friends and commissioned works.

The paintings of Mary Richardson, Jane Pannell and Sarah Pilmer were selected for the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery.
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Latest Paintings

Other Series

Paint 3D

After watching the 3D version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in 2011, I wondered if it would be possible to create a 3D image using oil paint.

I researched how to make an anaglyph 3D photograph of a projected film still, and then selected one film to represent each decade between the 1950s and 2000s, before the use of 3D became prominent in mainstream cinemas. The selection process was entirely subjective – although I tried to choose films which I thought represented each decade. The main project consists of six paintings of the anaglyph versions of the film stills I chose from each film.

I have painted 'Maggie' (Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Audrey Hepburn in 'Sabrina', 'Iris' (Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver), 'Rachael' (Sean Young in Blade Runner), 'Leeloo' (Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element) and 'Raimunda' (Penelope Cruz in Volver).

The subjects in my portraits are usually closely cropped. This project gave me the opportunity to incorporate backgrounds to give some illusion of depth within the works, as well as the three dimensional aspect that the flashes of red and cyan suggest.
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Time Series

These paintings are all related to my ongoing interest in depicting time. One day, I will paint all of the 24 frames in one second of film.
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Eclectic Mix

An eclectic mix of pictures
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Early Works

Early works from 1999-2001
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© Josie McCoy 1999-2020