Catching the fleeting scenes of many splendored life
'Look closely. The beautiful may be small' — Kant

My Paintings

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." — Aristotle

Many people mistake artwork for work of art.
There’s no point in painting, for example, every single branch of a tree, this would merely produce a (coloured) technical drawing — geometrical projection of reality that belongs in the realm of instructions manuals or anatomical portrait. What a painter should convey is the effect or illusion of all the branches, which is the essence of artistic translation of life.

Unlike photography, painting merges continuous string of moments and thus creates 3d space (all this of course refers to classical painting). A photo doesn’t convey human character in its entirety (at best its single facet), conversely, a painter watches the model for hours and compresses a great number of expressions and emotions into one image, which results in psychological depth (at least that's the objective).

To-day hardly anyone paints portraits from life — painters lack patience or just aren't up to the task, and with our fussy modern way of life models have neither time nor desire to pose as long as it takes. As far as I’m concerned, replicating digital photographs is pointless and even tacky — on the other hand par for the course in the age of cheap single-use slapdash consumer goods — a high quality digital photo has much more artistic value and looks much better on the wall. While “it requires a high level of technical prowess and virtuosity to simulate a false reality” ("high level of technical prowess and virtuosity" aren't sufficient for the creation of a piece of art), there’s a technique of transferring a digital photograph directly onto the canvas for those who seek an oil painting look — it’s much cheaper and the result is just the same.

When someone tells me my paintings are as real as photos I feel disappointed — either I screwed it or the person in front of me hasn’t the foggiest idea what art is. Instead, if someone says my paintings, especially portraits, are lifelike, then I feel happy and, (up to a point), satisfied.
Human eye doesn’t see the reality the way a camera does. Camera doesn’t see the space, it sees the surface. Camera observes geometrically, but the painter should observe psychologically. What we perceive is general impression, whereas the great advantage of digital photography is that it allows to take close-ups of the smallest details that would otherwise remain unheeded.

The human eye can perceive scenes with a very high dynamic contrast ratio, around 1,000,000:1. Even the eye's static range is at any given time higher than the static range achievable by most display technology.
Although many manufacturers claim very high numbers, plasma displays, LCD displays, and CRT displays can only deliver a fraction of the contrast ratio found in the real world, and these are usually measured under ideal conditions.
That’s why no photograph ever manages to equal the dynamic range and the richness of palette of picture painted by a good master, which is as close as a reproduction by a human being can get to the real world.

The highest problem of any art is to cause by appearance the illusion of a higher reality. Johann von Goethe

I’ve always had a strong liking for portraits as nothing is more interesting to human beings than human beings, and always insist on using living models as subjects, which means people have to sit for me for quite a bunch of hours, depending on the technique. Apart from capturing the model’s likeness, I aim at representing the essential and peculiar, as opposed to the accidental and common about him/her (which is precisely the domain of photography). I don't use tricks, such as photographic slide projections or multimedia projectors that allow to trace over the transferred geometry.

I humbly drag in the footsteps of great masters, painting by conjecture and hindsight and trying to please both the eye and intellect.

Unfortunately I have very few pictures of my works (and, being the greatest procrastinator ever, few works too, since I usually work to order) due to either clients’ express wishes, circumstances or my own negligence. In addition, I can't upload pictures of most portraits for privacy concerns.

A sybarite's breakfast. (© Light colour Shade)
Oil on canvas (painted from life).
The custom still life I painted from life several years ago. An exception as I usually paint/draw portraits or landscapes. For obvious reasons (the photograph wasn't taken by me) the original painting differs measurably in color and tone from this picture.
'So full of life!', exclaimed the lady who commissioned the painting at seeing it for the first time. 

Portrait of an old lady
Portrait of an old lady. (Painted from life.)
 Red chalk, sepia and charcoal on a toned paper.
I drew it in about an hour and a half while the lady was watching TV.
(© Light Colour Shade)

Portrait of a man. Oil on canvas. (Painted from life.)
(© Light Colour Shade)
Painted from life to order several years ago. For obvious reasons the original painting differs measurably in color and tone from this picture.
Background noise is due to the flaws of the photo taken, by the way, by a professional photographer, so that I had to square and crop the image.
If you want something to be done well, do it yourself.

Portrait of a lady. Oil on canvas. (Painted from life.)
(© Light colour Shade)
Painted from life to order several years ago. The original painting differs measurably in color and tone and some details are lost due to the poor quality of this photograph. The best model that ever sat for me. She posed for several months almost every day for two hours without moving a muscle. Once again, the photographer screwed it up: the clothing blended into the background and sharpness is lost, among other things.

Portrait of an old man. Black pencil on white paper.
Painted from life. A life drawing of an old man lost in thoughts.
(© Light Colour Shade)

Old lady having a nap
Taking a nap. Painted from life.
Red chalk, sepia and charcoal on a toned paper.
(© Light Colour Shade)

Life sketch of a drowsy man.
Charcoal on a toned paper.
(© Light Colour Shade)

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