Marie Antoinette's boudoir at Fonatinbleau. Painting

Historic Interiors have been a life long passion and during the Covid pandemic I started to paint the places that I could no longer visit. I wanted to make romantic, nostalgic, recognizable images that accentuated the characteristics that make these rooms so special. In the case of this room it's association with Marie Antoinette was important, but what I wanted to capture were the many iridescent qualities of the luxury materials used in the decoration. It is about mother-of-pearl and of gilding, of reflections and glowing surfaces. My paintings are not photo-realistic, they rely on impressionistic rendering rather than capturing every detail. I think they capture the qualities of the space better than a photo, and as a painter I can modify things, leave things out, improve the lighting, light the fire. I have been taught both traditional oil painting techniques and contemporary ones and I combine both in my work. From across a room this may look like a photo but as you get closer you will see that the details are merely implied. In this my picture imitates the way that we actually see the world, mostly in soft focus as a transient background to life. Very rarely do we really stop and study anything in detail. My paintings are like friendly hug, they are lavish, but comfortable, and give us a glimpse of another world.