Teresa de Avila Painting

My body of work unfolds in a circle. My early interest in portraits as an artistic form, was enhanced after I received a commission. Then I was drawn by the challenging immediacy of artistic commentary and illustration for news-papers, first for El Independiente, then two decades with El Mundo, the two separated by life’s great adventure of motherhood. Closing the circle a few years ago, I set out to deeply explore the human figure. In this series of paintings, backgrounds and figures merge into each other both being protagonists. Before drawing the figure over the canvas with a graphite pencil, I have made several layers of acrylic paint, creating a rich container with an identity of its own in order to take in the main figure. The backgrounds can be abstract or illustrative. I give the finishing touches, to highlight dark and light lines, with brushstrokes of oil paint and black ink. As an illustrator I have experimented with a multitude of techniques always putting them at the service of the transmission of an idea. My work gets nutrition from countless sources, from popular art to cutting edge contemporary art. I can work with a model or from photographs. I do a good deal of investigative research about the person.