La Belle Astrid

[Marina Dieul]

Christy , thank you !

SB :

Ilaria : yes I wanted a clair-obscur to accentuate even more the luminosity of the baby skin. As she was 3 months old and could go no where, I had time to develop the lighting I had in mind : I had a speedlight with a small diffusor coming the right, balanced with a strong reflection of the sun coming from down-left, which filled a lot the shadows. Then, when I painted it I changed the lighting of the box, like if the fill did not exist.
It's subtle enough that it doesn't look weird, but as you noticed she seems to radiate light.
For the accessories, I wanted to keep them simple, but very rich material, I just had a hard time finding the model of the frame, which I had to change to adapt my project. In this painting. My influence from Italian Renaissance is so strong in this painting that I finally chose a Roman frame from the 17th century.

[Richard Monro]

Marina,

This is stunning! I didn't think it possible, but each new painting of yours surpasses the last. Could you post a picture of the entire panel or is the edge of the Picture frame the extent of the panel? Your illusion is so real I have a bit of a time comprehending what it looks like in toto.

[Carol Norton]

Another "OMG!" So original. So beautiful. Thank you for sharing your baby with us.

[Dianne Gardner]

This is gorgeous!

I've never seen a trompe l'oiel in person. How is it done if you don't mind me asking?

[Mary Sparrow]

Marina, your work always takes my breath away. It is just beautiful!

[Marina Dieul]

Thank you all!

Richard and Dianne : I'll try to take few pictures showing the panel and some details as soon as I have time.
Dianne, there is not really one recipe to paint a trompe-l'oeil : some people will paint on regular canvas... It's the result which is important. You know that a trompe-l'oeil is well done when people don't notice it when they enter in the room, they just think it's real objects. For this, I love to paint on cut-out panel, it allows more liberty on the choice of the objects, and I always varnish with a mat varnish ( If you see the reflection of a glossy varnish, you know immediately that it's not a 3D object. )
Of course, including some figures in a trompe-l'oeil is not supposed to be the best idea, because only inanimate objects will really fool you. But it's my new way of doing things, a mix of a figure painting with some trompe-l'oeil parts. my first attempt worked well : the first day it was hang in the window of a gallery, someone ran in the gallery saying " Help! Your frame is falling! ". This is the best compliment someone could ever tell me !

[Tom Edgerton]

This is truly beautiful...the temperatures in the skin are without parallel!