Blue In The Face Painting by Antti Eklund

About The Artwork

"Blue In The Face" is from my series of BOLD portraits. The way times have changed after the 44th Presidency of The United States I can imagine Barack Obama holding his breath. On the other hand I wonder when was the last time since then that I was able to laugh so freely and from such joy that I became blue in my face. All we can do is hope - and vote. I paint portraits of people who have made an impact - on me on our society. I use oil paints, but on my BOLD Portraits I also use a rare ULTRABLACK acrylic paint. It is the blackest black in the world, it absorbs 99% of visible light. I started to paint portraits with oil paints when I challenged myself to paint the two things that are most difficult for me: 1) faces and 2) oil paints. I painted "Icons of Icons" by adding gold leaf to the background, reminiscing religious icons. That evolved into "Gold Portraits" by swapping the oil for the background and the gold for the actual portrait. I always enjoyed the paintings in their early phases, when the paintings seemed extremely light and relaxed. I am able to achieve that sketchy result now in my "Bold Portraits” - without having the painting appear unfinished. I dropped out everything extra - the gold and most colors. I paint the painting meticulously through 3-4 times with a very small brush in order to achieve the undulating sketchy lines on my finished painting. I hope you like them! Synopsis: I paint iconic people and topics that have had an impact on me or our society. I paint oil on canvas, but in my BOLD portraits I also use a ultrablack matt acrylic paint. The painting is signed on the back and has my “e” symbol on the front. The painting continues around the sides, so it is ready to hang unframed.

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