Tommy Shelby

 

A portrait of Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy from the absolutely fantastic series, Peaky Blinders. I’ve been hooked from the first episode and if you’ve not got round to watching it, I suggest you do! It’s a drama set around Birmingham just after WW1, and follows the exploits of the Shelby crime family, who are also known as the Peaky Blinders (a name derived from stitching razor blades in to the peaks of their caps, and using them as a weapon in fights.). The fictional family is actually loosely based on the real life gang of the same nickname, who were around in the late 19^th century. It’s a truly fantastic series that follows their growth, wars, and ambitious expansion in the criminal underworld.

Tommy Shelby is a character that is deeply changed and affected by his experience in WW1, and the trauma of losing someone he loved before he left for war is accounted for his change in personality when he is home. But he is also an extremely ambitious character with his goals always centred around moving himself and his family up in the world. And while he is not the eldest of his siblings, his natural ability to command respect and authority along with his intelligence, puts him rightly as the head and leader of his family.

 

The portrait is painted with Winsor&Newton watercolours and gouache, on Bockingford hot pressed watercolour paper, and measures 30x42cm.