Artist's blog by contemporary portrait painter Peter D'Alessandri

31/08/202314/02/2024

LGC Art Prize

I am absolutely delighted that “Man and Woman” has been shortlisted for the Theo Paphitis LGC Art Prize. Out of 837 submissions, they shortlisted just 11 artworks, so I am feeling extremely grateful that the judges chose my work to be amongst the finalists.

It is a painting that has taken rather a long time for me to finish (I wrote more about the painting and how I recently repainted it here). I have had a troubled relationship with this piece. I started working on it during a time of great loss and pain. It has spent ten years in an unfinished state. I could not work out what was wrong with it, but I suspect unresolved feelings from that time made me feel uncomfortable working on it.

Anyway, it’s finished now, and it’s so encouraging having such a personal piece being endorsed by the judges. Working alone in a studio, it is all too easy to start having doubts about particular paintings and projects. Will people understand them? Will anyone make a connection with my work? So a big thank you to the judges – Kate Brinkworth, Tom Croft, Brian Reed, Jayne Kay, and a special thanks to Theo Paphitis who set up and supports the LGC Art Prize.

The LGC Art Prize Shortlist

Update. And the winner is….

Theo Phaphitis presenting winner Tom Mead with his prize

It was a wonderful and quite lavish awards ceremony. Theo Paphitis must be congratulated for hosting this excellent addition to the Arts calendar. Tom Meads was the deserved winner with his painting ‘Stoic’. You can read more about the three different winners here: theopaphitis.com/my-blog
What I particularly enjoyed about the judges’ selection was that they chose works that actually followed the theme “connection” – not always the case with themed shows.

theo paphitis standing next to the painting Man and Woman — Head judge Theo Paphitis in front of my painting

One very nice touch was how, after the awards ceremony, they then gave each artist a goody bag full of art materials. I’ve not seen that in any competitions I’ve been shortlisted for before, and I was incredibly pleased with that little surprise. I left feeling like a winner. Artists are so easy to please 🙂

London Graphic Centre is a treasure trove of art materials in the heart of London. Here is their website: londongraphics.co.uk

11/08/202326/01/2024

How to Commission a Nude Portrait

Have you ever thought about commissioning a nude portrait painting?

I am often asked if I paint nude portraits. Yes, I do. It’s really not much different from a regular portrait.
I can work from photos you provide if you prefer. Not everyone is comfortable posing nude, but I do everything I can to make models feel comfortable in my studio. If you want to provide your own photos, I can give advice about lighting and poses.
The best results would be from an in-person sitting. I do some drawings first, trying out different poses and looking for the most complementary light. Then we can choose one pose and I will take some photos of you for reference. I will use the photos and the drawings to make a painting.

I have a studio where we can do the sitting, or I can travel to you. Sometimes that’s better, because you will probably feel more comfortable posing at home.

lifemodel in front of drawings — life model posing in studio

Sometimes the best poses are not planned, but can happen by accident. The body might look a certain way in a particular light; a quick look might show more of you than a pose you prepared. If we have a three hour session, we have a better chance of finding that one perfect position that expresses what you want.

nude female model sitting on bed — An example of an unplanned pose that worked well – the model was just taking a break between poses

Have a look at my page How to Commission a Nude Portrait which will answer the most frequent questions. If you want more information or would like to discuss a commission then please contact me via the email address on my contact page.

03/08/202319/02/2024

Artist Interview

A Journey from Catharsis to Social Commentary

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Joana Alarcão for the online magazine Insights of an Eco Artist. I must admit that it was harder work than I expected. I’ve given a few interviews in the past and usually the questions are predictable, generic and a little boring. So I was a little surprised to be sent some more challenging questions specifically about my art practice.

I’m not sure how many people read these interviews, but I always find it a useful exercise trying to explain my art practice to someone. The interview can be found here.

Joana Alarcão is an interdisciplinary eco-artist and writer who works primarily within the concepts of social/environmental justice and culture. Her website is here.

A few years ago I gave an interview to the naturist magazine Clothes Free Life. Somehow I managed to delete the original blogpost about it. It was an interesting exercise as the questions were from a different perspective to your normal artist interview. So here is the link to the article:

Portraits of People with no Clothes

26/06/202307/11/2023

Portrait of a Singer

Several years ago I had the pleasure of having a young singer/songwriter by the name of Devon Mayson pose for a portrait sitting. This was just one of a series of portrait sittings I arranged at the time, all with different sitters. They went well, and I recall Devon in particular was fascinating to work with. But at this time I chose instead to concentrate on figure studies and my Relationships Series paintings, so the drawings and photos from these sessions have remained unused. Until now.
In the past few years portraiture has become a much more important part of my art practice, and so I have been taking another look at the reference material from these earlier sittings.

This is a portfolio piece, to demonstrate my skills to potential customers, and also to give them ideas for what they can have in their own portraits. This is an example of how the introduction of a landscape in the background can add visual interest to a portrait. It is a device I have used frequently in commissions – the main risk is that it can distract your view from the sitter. It was sometimes used to good effect in Renaissance portraits. Artists like Titian would usually set the sitter within a neutral, abstract space – possibly for economy. However the addition of a window view, as in the examples below, opens up the space and adds an extra meaning to the portrait..

titian and possibly Giorgione portraits, showing technique of adding window in background — Two examples of Renaissance portraits with window in background

If you are interested in commissioning a portrait, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. My email address is on my Contact page. I have also produced some portrait case studies which might be helpful – they are below this blog post.

The model for this paintings was singer/songwriter Devon Mayson. From her website:

“Devon is a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist whose unique style is shaped by influences from the musical worlds of Country, Folk and Pop”

Her website is here: devonmayson.com

01/06/202330/09/2024

Man and Woman

“Man and Woman” is a painting that I thought was finished over ten years ago. I’ve suffered years of nagging doubts, and a real reluctance to show it publicly, such that I finally decided to rework it.
It was only going to be a small amendment, but in the end I had to repaint the entire surface.

It’s debatable about how much the revision is an improvement. The poses are almost identical. Some people might prefer the earlier version. That’s irrelevant. I feel that the later revision is much closer to the painting that I tried to produce in 2009. Although the original version was no doubt true to the reference photos I was working from, I don’t think it captured a true likeness of the female figure.

I should explain something about the background to this painting. My partner had just passed away after a long illness, and in a splurge of activity I set about working on a series of paintings that recorded my lost partner and our relationship. Most had been planned while she was still alive (I had taken reference photos and made preparatory sketches), but sadly her poor health meant I was unable to work on them at the time. This was the last of that series, and for some reason it was the only one I was unhappy with.

The problem with resuming work on a painting after such a long time is that my painting technique has changed over the years. I still start with a monochrome underpainting, but my palette of colours has changed considerably, I use different mediums, and my use of glazes has become more restrained.
Nevertheless it was an interesting exercise. The photo below shows a lighter palette in the revised painting.

Original painting on left, with umbers and ochre dominating the palette

Another interesting aspect of this exercise is that I no longer have the original reference photos. Much of the work on my late partner’s face was done from memory, which would normally have been outside my comfort zone. One area where my painting has changed is that I am less beholden to reference photos, and feel more confident to wander off track. I believe that I have achieved a better likeness here by doing just that.
In writing this post, and looking at photos of the two versions side by side, it does feel like a lot of work for only a small change. But it was worth it. I feel happier showing it now.

Edit: “Man and Woman” has since been shortlisted for the LGC Art Prize 2023
A recent post about the competition can be found here: LGC Art Prize