Chiaroscuro Portrait Painting

My approach to my art is born from a happy place and a desire to portray the beauty in people, who fascinate me, from personalities to unique structure and traits. I strive to portray the inner narrative of a subject rather than simply reproducing the features. After some contemplation it became clear to me that the inner narrative of the subject is by its very nature exclusive of the viewer and the conversation is an inner one, it therefore excludes the viewer from the narrative is a mildly voyeuristic way and so the lack of a direct gaze has developed in importance quite unconsciously. I like to imagine what the subject may be thinking and strive to bring that through in my depiction of the person. I strive to create a feeling of the subject being quite unconscious of, or at least, unaffected by, the viewers gaze. Light is very important to me as a painter, I am intrigued by the play of light either direct strong light or the lack of it, on the features of the subject. Each face has its own subtitles and skin qualities and exploring how the flesh plays with the light brings me enormous satisfaction. As a result of this my brush strokes are varied from one piece to the next, some being bold in an attempt to portray masculinity or dramatic emotion. Others are softer, more feminine, in an attempt to portray a moment of peace and serenity. Similarly my colours are exaggerated, either exceptionally cool out of direct warm light or strong transitions in direct light. I am often more satisfied when I get the feeling of a slight mystery behind the expression or movement of my subject and I feel the first hand experience of the subject I get from taking my own photographs and working from life, are a huge asset in attempting to capture the moment on canvas. Ultimately I strive to portray that fleeting moment as a thought passes, and just when I feel I have it, I feel I have lost it and so the search for the fine balance between portrait and internal dialogue plays out in each of my portraits. I hope I will never quite achieve it. "Dalene’s art took her into a career in graphic design and kept her there for half a lifetime, producing some designs most people would recognise on the supermarket shelves, but she did not neglected her fine art.