Stuart’s work will be exhibited on February 11/12 in our Valentine’s Portrait Exhibtion. Please see NEWS for more details.
Artist Statement:
In July 2010 I finished my final year of study for a Diploma in Portraiture at Heatherleys School of Fine Art in Chelsea, London.
The images I make are a direct result of my constant endeavour to achieve something which goes beyond the pictorial representation. How do you paint an object and make it look unique? How do you go beyond the surface of a persons physical likeness and reflect elements of their personality? How do you cut through the silence of a life pose so that it is able to speak to the viewer?
My paintings are created through a mixture of intense observation, keen draughtsmanship and instinctive response. My work is painterly yet definitive, traditional yet contemporary. Composition is a major factor in the creation of all of my work. It is very much a responsive process of feeling ones way around and moving the boundaries of the image until a harmonious and correct balance is achieved.
The paint is built up onto the canvas using small areas of colour which are applied with exactitude adjacent to each other, creating a mosaic of colour and tone that make up the whole. I prefer to leave the traces of brush strokes visible so that they become integral parts of the work. The brush strokes and colour support each other to produce something entirely recognisable upon the surface of the canvas.