British Basics Painting

I was born in Spain and raised between the US and Spain during my childhood, eventually settling in New York City for a few decades until my return to 'Europe" in 2019 to live in London. I feel my mixed identity defines my art. Urban, American, and Spanish with a keen interest in past artistic expressions. In 2017, I was introduced to painting with egg tempera by Doug Safranek, renowned tempera artist and professor at the New York Arts Students League, and I have worked exclusively in this medium since then. I enjoy the meticulous brushstroke and layered technique of egg tempera which creates a semi-opaque luminosity with a transparency and depth of color particularly beautiful and unique to this medium. Although it is a slow and laborious process, tempera painting is also versatile, flexible (quick drying), portable and sustainable (water, egg yolk and pigment) and it allows me to "paint" with a "drawing" like quality. Inspired by the still life paintings of the Spanish "bodegones" of the 16th century, I aim to capture the beauty of natural forms and ordinary objects we live with -- or eat!. Realistic yet surreal, they can be symbolic, soulful or at times humorous images of intimate moments of people, objects and the world we live in. Hopefully, they compel the viewer to pause and appreciate what is around us -- .