From the artist

I am based in Lisbon, Portugal. I got my architecture degree back in 2001, a masters degree in large scale architecture in Barcelona in 2003, and subsequently worked as an architect for 13 years.

I was always more or less connected to artistic endeavours (mostly drawing), but never directly to painting - and figurative painting even less so. That started in 2014 in a very unexpected way: I was challenged by three friends to draw their portraits. I instantly fell in love and never looked back.

My artistic process

For commissions, it usually starts with a photo session, in case I have the possibility to photograph the subject - which sometimes, due to geographic limitations or subject availability, is quite a challenge. I end up with about 200 pictures, which are filtered down to roughly 10%. From those 10% I usually choose between two and five pictures to work with.

Then a rough sketch is made on the canvas and a blue wash - a very thinly diluted oil paint - is applied. That is my backbone and I always start with blue. It sets my shadows’ tonal characteristics.

When the blue wash is dry, I apply the oil paint and the work develops around the eyes, always expanding from them. In a way they are my sun, if that makes any sense.

The rest is just a mix of intentional thick brush strokes, unintentional ones, and lots of corrected mistakes that in the end make up my interpretation of the subject.

There is no recipe nor linearity regarding the time it takes for the painting to build itself. The paintings take a direction of their own, so in that sense, predicting how long they will take to finish is often a very uncertain thing.

Discovering my style

When I first started, the only thing I was sure about (besides the fact I wanted to paint people) was that every work done by me, independently of the subject being portrayed, had to provoke enough interest to be something more than just a representation of a specific someone. There should be enough validity to it to stand on its own as a work of art and not just a portrait. In that sense, and ironically enough, I treat every face/body as a landscape: I build very thick textures (like sculpting a terrain), complex colour schemes (like a rich landscape) and intense shadow/light (like a breathable atmosphere).

I didn’t want to be purely representational because any photo camera can do that much, much better than anyone with a brush (no matter how technically gifted they are). As painters I think we have the obligation of offering a bit more than that.

Closing remarks

I want to thank all of you that support my work. You allow me to do what I love the most and I cannot thank you enough for that. You make my life very special and I’m truly deeply thankful.

~Alexandre Alonso