? x Jossiepops: Wait... WHAT?!

I have never been as shocked by an email title in my life.

Not even close.

I was casually going through my inbox one day when something landed that made me stop in my tracks.

“? x Jossiepops.”

Sorry, WHAT?!

Was this spam? Was someone having a laugh? Was this a very elaborate prank?

Because, honestly, when something like that lands in your inbox, you don't exactly expect it to turn into a 5m x 2m painting.

But somehow, that's exactly where I found myself.

Standing in front of a five-metre canvas, spray cans in hand, looking at a blank space and thinking:

“Right... here we go.”

If you know my work, you'll know I'm not really a photorealism guy.

I love texture.

I love movement.

I love leaving bits rough around the edges.

I like paint that looks like paint.

So the challenge was figuring out how to take something that needed to be instantly recognisable and somehow turn it into a proper Jossiepops piece.

No shortcuts.

No digital wizardry (Ai BS)

Just a ridiculous amount of paint, spray cans, acrylic pens, brushes and the usual beautiful chaos that comes with trying to make something this bloody big.

The canvas itself was a monster.

Five metres long.

FIVE.

METRES.

Anyone who's watched me work will know that I normally spend half my time covered in paint, stepping backwards, squinting at the canvas and wondering whether I've absolutely ruined it.

Now imagine doing that with something five metres long.

😂

The background came first.

Loose marks.

Warm tones. Autumnal feel.

Messy brushwork.

Scribbles.

Texture.

A bit of chaos.

Basically, all the stuff that makes my brain happy.

And there was a point where I stood back and thought:

“Actually... I quite like this on its own.”

That's always a good sign.

Then came the portrait.

This was the bit that mattered.

If you know me, you'll know I live for greyscale.

Black.

White.

Every shade of grey in between.

There's something about stripping a portrait back to light, shadow and texture that just works for me.

But at this scale, every little decision becomes massive.

A tiny change to an eye suddenly becomes the size of your hand.

A slight adjustment to a shadow can completely change the expression.

And when you're standing six feet away from a canvas, sometimes you genuinely can't tell whether you've created something brilliant or made an absolute mess of it.

From an artist's point of view, the detail was both a dream and a nightmare.

Straw hat weave? Check.

Textured cotton suit? Yep.

Elaborate velvet collar pattern? Of course.

Sunglasses reflection with a visible eye peeking through? Why not. More challenge = better result.