I met Julia when she was living in London and
attending quite a few of my art classes learning how to draw and paint the life
model or nude. I feel because of her experience in this arena as a
practicing artist Julia was very aware of the process of looking and painting a
subject with all its intricacies and working methods. This knowledge translated
intuitively as she was much more at ease at the sitting sessions making it very
much easier for me. I love the way Julia is looking away in this portrait.
I think it shows the softer and more vulnerable side of her character and also
hints at her sparkling humour. Julia had some ideas of how she wanted the
background and general colours to be muted and dark. The dark dress combined
with her dark hair against the background contrasts and set off her face
beautifully. The more daring neckline of the dress that we chose has a simple
and strong design. It allows space for the pearl necklace, a favourite
jewellery piece of Julia's. The extra touch of their lightness gives a balance
to the natural tones of the skin.
In the detail image of the portrait you can see the
handling of the paint upon the surface of the canvas. It is always interesting
to see how each artist handles paint whether is be brushy or smooth as it is
like handwriting, very particular to every individual. I really enjoyed
painting this portrait of Julia.
