Love Crazy
Taken from the sublime Hugues Merle painting ‘Mary Magdalene in the Cave’ (1868), it is a painting that exemplifies the subtlety and skill that I admire in the old masters.The skin tones, the details of the garment and hands are just breath-taking. Of course, there are artists of today who attain this level of proficiency but there is a quality, a softness and deftness that I find particular to the classical masters of yesteryear. If I have succeeded in reproducing some of this feeling in my love struck heroine, then I am very pleased indeed. I have taken her gaze down from the original and altered her features but the overall attitude is very similar. In my painting she is hopelessly in love, in a state of near rapture as she reclines in a haze of lovesick dreaminess. I think most of us can identify with this feeling.The classic rendering of our starry-eyed subject sits well with contemporary elements that surround her, from the deep red heart to the graffiti that all look like examples of tattoo art. I think all these elements blend to make a compelling and pleasing image that, on the one hand, pays homage to Monsieur Merle and on the other, make a fresh and engaging painting.
Oil on Canvas | 87cm x 77cm
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