Two paintings
 

Two paintings done at art school over a couple of day sessions each.
I tend to make paintings from the model look not like portraits but more as generic paintings of people, since it is very difficult to incorporate personal aspects when working in a class.

Ilaria

Ilaria,

Been a while. What fresh brushwork! I like them very much. Spontaneity and sureness of stroke. It is very clear that you like what you do.
Enhorabuena.

(P. S. Real Madrid is looking more like the Italian slelection this year , no? More reason for you and your husband to come over...Forza
Madrid ???

Carlos, today just one word: Kaannnavarooooooo !!

Thanks for your comment, I haven't been posting recently since I didn't paint portraits. I have been working rather on still-lifes with the aim of loosen up even more without having to listen to clients' comments on likeness. Very unstressful !

I am planning a show for the end of next year so I am trying to build up a consistent body of work to choose from.
Weekend in Madrid is always in top priorities
Ilaria

Ilaria,
what a delight to see your colors !
I especially like the first one : those blue, purple, pink and grey ! I just finished eating, and this is my dessert. Delicious!

Ilaria,

What joyously fresh color! In the light side the colors are so clear, in the shadows they are deliciously transparent and the value and chroma changes are so subtle, yet not blended to disguise the shifts. A real delight for the eyes! I, too, especially like the first one. I love the colors of the whole composition, and I love how you suggested his eyes and eyelashes. Although you may feel it is somewhat generic, I get a real sense of him as an individual.

I love the sculptural quality of these paintings, and the way you've created volume with your subtle color shifts. Thanks for posting..

Thank you Chris, Alex, Marina.

I also prefer the boy's painting, more time and a quiet setting.
The girl was posed in front of that hideous pink screen vibrating in the eyes, it is very difficult to paint something you don't agree with!

What I am always told by my tutor is to try and simplify: have areas where the colour is reduced to one, maybe in the shadow, and then show more activity somewhere else. (he tells me to simplify while making my job more and more complex, the more I think I manage the more he puts the bar up !)
Easier working with professional models anyway!
Ilaria

Beautiful colors and atmosphere in these paintings imo. :thumbsup:

Lovely sensuous color. Beautiful atmosphere. ( I think I repeated someone here!)

I was thinking today as I was struggling to paint a really lovely young girl from life, how much easier and stress free it would be simply to use a photo. Then I realized, that it was the challenge of figurative painting from life that made the work so exciting for me. It was like cliffhanging, a wrong turn there etc and it is all lost, except for the intense sweetness of nailing it!

Ilaria, this is quite refreshing to see. It reminds me of the after class student portrait studies. While at the academy, in Florence, after regular class time, a selective group of students, from the academy, would do portrait studies two days a week for two weeks, four sittings. One student would sit the others would paint or draw. I miss that.

Your studies are excellent! You should be quite pleased for these express great leaps of improvement in your work. As you well know still life's are exceptional for studies of value and color but are only a tools needed when painting a portrait from life. You are well on your way Ilaria and you have such talent.

Wish you the best.

p.s. how much is a box of fusions there, i need to get a new supply soon?