Portrait Project One – Following an inspiration

In my ongoing attempt to overcome my discomfort with portraiture, I decided to do the part I really love… painting faces from imagination. First, I have to give credit to my inspiration for the next few paintings: Juan Martinez Parente. He found me on Pinterest and I’ve fallen in love with the faces he paints. They are deeply expressive, humourful, and packed with personality. This is the kind of expressionism I love! Using the dry pastels feels familiar to me and allows me to get the expressions down on paper. Using the varnish on top of it is, well, messy. It blurs the details and colours I carefully added. As I make more, they just run on instinct. The one thing that feels consistent throughout my work is the eyes. They are mine, I think.

Materials: watercolour paper, dry pastels, white-tinted acrylic varnish

Dimensions: 8.5” (21.6cm) x 5.5” (14cm)

Prints & more available at Arts MPerron @ https://1-mario-perron.pixels.com