⭐️This portrait of Maria was started in mid June, and completed mid July, 2024. I was looking at a lot of Russian watercolors and found the color saturation quite appealing for Maria’s lovely skin tones and hair, not to mention her brilliant hydrangeas in the background. A different approach, for sure, but one I am enjoying quite a bit and it worked out great! ⭐️
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A few words concerning my process…
Oftentimes in painting, you have to make a tough decision: Whether to continue working on a piece, or to abandon it.
I know every artist deals with this at some point or another in their work, and the painstaking process can lead to frustration, anxiety and even sleepless nights.
One solution I have found: Best to wait until the mid tones and a shadow or two are in there before doing anything rash, and I do these early on so as to save even more time (they call this “blocking,” in the biz).
Blocking will let you see whether the big picture (pun 😊) has any appeal, and seeing the work in big blocks of light, dark and mid tone compositions helps to sort things out fast.
Subsequently, I’ve abandoned very few canvases and drawings over the years.
Now, I wish to examine two of my favourite Master Painters who influenced this particular art… painters whose lives and work both have more than a little in common between them: The American Master John Singer Sargent, and an artist whose work can be viewed somewhat as his antecedent, The Great 19th Century Russian Master, Ilya Repin.
The parallels are striking.
John Singer Sargent
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John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era-luxury.
Sargent created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, Spain, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.”
-Wikipedia
Sargent painted bankers, Royals, their heirs, socialites, war veterans, gypsies, street urchins, ingenues, beauty queens, matronly figures, and seemingly everyone in between, offering us a glimpse of the denizens great and small who inhabited the main thoroughfares and small corridors of that bygone, gilded age.
“John Singer Sargent was especially known for his luscious bravura brushwork which was based on the Carolus-Duran wet-on-wet technique of flowing blended strokes and soft edges.
The loose, painterly marks look careless up close but from a distance merge to create a deft portrait of the subject.”
-Wiki
One bit of wisdom I’ve learned from Sargent is to work quicker; it often greatly benefits the work. It can take time to appreciate the soft, unfinished edges when they appear. I find I have to resist the urge to tamp them down on the canvas.
It can also take some time to develop the confidence to be able to identify when just enough is good enough, meaning you can’t take a technique any farther without losing any more than you gain, and the realisation of this difference, striking the proper balance, is one of the great joys of painting.
There is so much more to learn from Sargent, this is certainly not my last blog discussing his work.
Ilya Repin
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Ilya Yefimovich Repin (July 24, 1844 – September 29, 1930) was a Ukrainian-born Russian painter who became one of the most renowned artists in Russia in the 19th century. His major works include Barge Haulers on the Volga (1873), Religious Procession in Kursk Province (1880–1883), Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan (1885); and Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks(1880–1891).
Repin is also known for the revealing portraits he made of the leading Russian literary and artistic figures of his time, including Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, Pavel Tretyakov, and especially Leo Tolstoy, with whom he had a long friendship.”
-Wiki
Similar to Sargent, Repin’s mother, a teacher, recognized his artistic talent early on, and supported Repin’s efforts to become a painter, which he did professionally by his late teens.
Repin left his small Ukrainian village early in life at 16, seeking wider opportunities for his prodigious talent.
Frequently associated with portraiture, landscape, religious, and genre painting, Repin won numerous prestigious awards, quickly establishing his reputation as an artist. Eschewing the university trained formalism of his European contemporaries and instead embracing the direct emotional simplicity of nature, Repin was known to pose his subjects in an interesting and captivating way. They never appear false or forced.
Repin suffered one setback in 1885 when his history portrait of Ivan the Terrible killing his own son in a rage caused a scandal, resulting in the painting being removed from exhibition. But this was followed by a series of major successes and new commissions.
This event bears some resemblance to Sargent’s Paris Salon scandal in 1888 with his scandalous portrait of “Madame X,” and similarly this piece made Sargent’s name in elite Parisian artistic circles.
Both painters were passionate about Realism and shunned modernity, only flirting with newer artistic developments such as Impressionism, while preferring to paint directly from nature, and it’s true character, not to the arid formalism of stale tradition.
Both artists “strove to attain verity of vision, and rendering the grip of the actual; the potency of things seen and sincerely recorded.” The nuance and layered facial sequences alone are a wonderful aspect of Repin’s work to behold.
With my latest canvas (“Maria”), I strive to embody the best qualities of both artists. For whether it be the direct, emotional style of Repin, or the whimsical abstract flourish of Sargent peppering his canvas with fascinating flourishes of grace notes, there is so much to glean from these two brilliant master painters of the past.
Art is truly wonderful.
Until next month!
Sincerely, Elias
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Greetings everyone! Happy Father’s Day!
This month, I am working on a very special portrait of a very special someone who is no doubt blushing red while she reads this presently, my lovely and beautiful Maria. 😊
I returned to a dry medium, so this portrait is colored pencil on drawing paper and only about half done, for those wondering why the background appears so faint.
For Maria’s portrait, I felt I should forgo any whimsical flourish in favor of a modern romanticism with a touch of realism, while leaning heavily on the awareness that I didn’t need to idealize her form at all, and simply drew what I saw in the picture reference.
My goal is for the portrait to come out direct, plain, and true.
If anyone is interested in commissioning a portrait, please feel free to reach out to me directly. 👌
I pray you have a wonderful rest of June.
Sincerely,
Elias K. Andrinopoulos
www.andrinostudios.com
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Warmest Greetings.
I hope this missive finds you in good health and fine spirits. We are certainly having beautiful weather for it.
This month, I switched it up a bit, and tackled a landscape commission for a friend.
The work was based on a photograph from Costa Rica, a volcanic site entitled, “Volcano Arenal.”
This locale was an amazing vista, where vibrant swaths of vegetation were framed by tall stately trees and centered by a lush, rolling waterfall. The view really knocked me out & drew my interest for the serene and pleasant vibes it brought.
After a wash of watercolor, I completed the work in colored pencil and pastel, careful not to overwork the landscape (very easy to do with a multitude of colors).
In working mode, I found myself being very influenced by Julia Cameron’s seminal book, “The Artist’s Way,” where she discusses how to persevere in the face of an overbearing inner critic and the daunting prospect of measuring up to our artistic heroes.
Her solution was quite simple: You may not be able to paint a completed landscape like the great William Mallory Turner, but his sketches and thumbnails can certainly be emulated, and oftentimes quite readily, too.
It felt great to break these out and stretch a different side of my artistic expression. We never know what we are capable of until we give it a go.
Until next month, I wish you joy, peace and good health!
Sincerely,
Elias K. Andrinopoulos
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Warmest Greetings!
This month’s work caused me to reflect deeply on the nature of portraiture, and what it means to make a good portrait painting (or drawing).
#1 on the list of definitions of effective portraiture would be an intimate, non-staged moment captured in a dynamic, interesting way.
I suppose there are many but this quality is chief among them.
Rendering form in a humanistic, naturalistic way without artifice or heavy handed modelling would be another.
(Editor’s Note: This is all simply my opinion). 😊 To look at some of my work, you may go here:
It doesn’t have to re-write the book of art, or even be very unique. As long as it’s real and well rendered, the viewer should be able to feel what you’ve done and have an emotional reaction. The more visceral, the better (so long as you’re not overly pandering to emotions).
Art works best when it engages with the emotions rather than just strictly the head.
Thank you for reading! If anyone is interested in a portrait, please inbox me directly for rates and turnaround times, it would be my pleasure to immortalize your loved ones in a beautiful, one of a kind work of art!
Happy Sunday to all of you!
Sincerely,
Elias K. Andrinopoulos 👨🏼🎨🎨
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Καλό Μήνα, everyone! Thank you for checking out another Artist Newsletter update!
Greetings! ✍🏻
Good afternoon and a wonderful month of March to you!
Beware the Ides of March..? 👀 Well, as winter winds down and the threat of snow fades, it’s wonderful to look forward to more daylight, and maybe even some spring weather! 🌸
THE ROMANOV FAMILY MARTYRS
March saw the completion of the Romanov family portraits in watercolor. They were wonderful to draw and even better to paint and to be honest, are quite fascinating indeed.
The Romanov Family were poised, attractive, cultured, refined, and were Martyrs in The Orthodox Church for Jesus Christ. ☦️ Painting them was a real joy, and I looked forward to the next creative challenge with zeal!
One aspect of the family which was interesting to interpret was the nonchalant way in which they presented themselves for the camera.
Of course, they were used to being photographed even back then, when cameras were not so common, and so many great photos existed of the family that just when I thought I found the proper reference photo, I would stumble upon an even more brilliant portrait of the family! Lol! It was an embarrassment of riches, as they say, but being as they are a subject I will return to in the near future, it is a Blessing that their pictures are so numerous.
Until next time, I wish you good health, Godspeed, and The Lord’s Blessings!
Thank you for reading! 📖
Sincerely,
Elias K. Andrinopoulos
Καλό Μήνα, everyone! Thank you for checking out another Artist Newsletter update, the first of 2024!
I pray this missive finds you in good health, high spirits, and the wonderful frame of mind which accompanied such a state.😊🙏🏻
(Perhaps I’ve explained this previously...”Καλό Μήνα» means, “A good month to you,” in Greek. This is a customary salutation on the first day of every month).😊
January saw me hitting the ground running on another Portrait, this one of the Tsar Alexander ii, and finishing up Tatiana’s Portrait as well.
The maxim, “Well begun is 1/2 done,” holds much weight in the visual arts, as I can tell if a piece will be fruitful from the first sketch.
In this regard I was happy that the outdoorsy Portrait of the Tsar came together right away. The only difficult part about it was centering the figure correctly.
Originally, I planned a portrait of the Tsar in his military regalia. However, after I saw a picture of Alexander in a relaxed outdoor setting, I enjoyed the softer look and felt it had a warmer feeling about it, which complemented the family nicely, and captured the Tsar’s personality quite well. It also offered a stark contrast with the (mostly) interior shots of the rest of the series.
A beautiful month of February to all of you and your families! If I can be of service in any capacity, please feel free to reach out directly.
Have a wonderful day!
Kalo Mnva! (“Happy Month”) of December to Everyone! Hello and good evening!
I trust everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is enjoying the Holidays!
(We should try to enjoy them, at any rate..!)
November saw much progress with the Romanov Family Portraits. I have completed 4 of the 7 family members in watercolor and Im finding it an intense challenge and wholly enjoyable work, both all at once..!
You may view a one minute video synopsis here:
While the figures are all photographed from the same setting, they all present a different set of obstacles to overcome.
For example, I finally finished Tatiana’s hands. Lol.
I decided I didn’t like her hands folded and bathed in light, so I finished rendering them with a light shadow. This was completed at the beginning of the month of November.
Then, I worked on Olga (the girl with the headband), a piece which came out very different indeed from her initial profile pencil/charcoal sketch.
While I enjoyed how her portrait looked in profile, I decided to go for a more opaque approach after looking at some Impressionist-influenced Italian portraits done by Sargent.
Lastly, I tackled the portrait of Alexei.
This was probably my favorite of the bunch so far as the simplicity of portrait came together rather quickly, a portrait very much influenced by the work of artist George Surat. I was going for a lighter, less stark portrait and I’m pleased to say I think I’ve achieved that.
Here is another quick video (:59 Seconds) featuring a view to the studio here:
Thank you everyone for you kind words and support. I hope everyone enjoys their Holidays and gets time to see their loved ones!
Kalo Mnva, everyone!
(That means, “A Good Month to You,” in Greek)!
The month of September saw a finishing of Elder Ephraim portrait of Mt. Athos & Arizona completed. The Elder is someone who did a lot for Orthodoxy in the United States, establishing several monasteries. This portrait was completed in watercolor.
Next, I tackled a copy of English painter John Millius’ Ophelia,” in preparation for a larger work.
I think the art director for Alice In Chains’ album cover, “Dirt,” took some inspiration from this art, however unwitting. I’ve always found it a striking work.
Then I completed a commission for a good friend of a young woman with her horse on a trail in charcoal.
I ended the month with a watercolor portrait of Anastasia Romanov.
Included are some woods and a brook behind my home. Always peaceful to get out in nature, especially as the cold New England days are fast approaching!
If anyone is interested in a commission, please feel free to inbox me directly.
Best,
Elias Andrinopoulos
Peabody, Massachusetts
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