FROM 01 MARCH 2021 BIGISSUE.COM | 11
SLAVCHO SLAVOV
Slavcho Slavov has been drawing
since he was a child. He explains
how to get confi dent with artvendor expert: painting
Illustrations:Matthew Brazierhen I first drew a portrait I was
seven years old and I used all my
pencils up for that one portrait. It
was of a friend of my father’s and I
had to draw it 100 times before it was perfect.
Then I started different things, like acrylic and
oil, and I just kept going. Acrylic is my favourite
but I love oil too. Sometimes I use watercolours
but I’m not really good with them.
Most of the time I start with a sketch but
other times I just start working in paint. My
sketches are done with a soft pencil and after
that I build on them. I never try to get the
sketch perfect, it’s quick – maybe just 10 or 20
minutes. Depending on the details it can take
30 to 50 hours to finish it. Then an oil painting
takes two weeks minimum to dry.
When I sit down with my drawing on
the table I try to put something different,
something I see that’s not like the photograph.
I just try to put something from myself in the
painting, that’s what I love to do. Every time
it gets easier and easier to get what you want.
At the beginning it’s pretty hard, I remember
that. After a couple of days sometimes I think,
that’s not what I want and I see the right way
to do it.WHOW TO GET INTO AN
ARTISTIC MOODMany years ago I spent a year in the art academy in Sofia but I stopped
because I didn’t have a lot of money to study for longer. I began to work
but I didn’t stop painting. When I’m painting is my favourite time, I love
it. I sell a lot of my work, I sell to friends and they tell their friends. I’ve got
five paintings here now and they’re all sold, but I can’t send them at the
moment. For a portrait I charge £20 to £30, for an oil a little bit more as they
need more time.Slavcho Slavov sells The Big Issue in Aberystwyth. To contact him about
buying his art email [email protected]Re�lections – acrylic on canvas
(Café Nero-Carmarthen)Pavel (charcoal)