Technique
During 2014 – 2016 I had been using oil on canvas indirect painting technique with lots of impressive effects. The goal was to create my imaginations in that period: there were somehow blurred dreamscapes in melancholic and dark atmosphere.
After 2016 I completely changed my technique: to reach to the desirable aesthetics, delicate tonal and color transitions, details, luminosity I have chosen traditional tempera and oil technique on a true gesso which is smooth like an ivory and reflects the light better than usual canvas. In most cases I do underpainting in tempera on a white gesso mostly keeping the natural light of the gesso itself. Then I proceed to oil glazes to enrich and deepen the layers of tempera paint. Tempera/oil on panel technique is also way more durable to cracking and can be preserved better than canvas.
Recreating Hans Memling's “Portrait of a Man”
A question that has long intrigued me is whether it is possible to approach, even to a small degree, the mastery of a painter from the 15th-century Flemish school. After an extensive study of the characteristics of the Renaissance Flemish style and the individual approaches of its artists, I was drawn to Hans Memling’s “Portrait of a Man” (1470), a masterpiece of refined sensitivity and precision.
Recreating this work in 2022 was a deeply meaningful experience. Through this act, I pay homage to Memling’s profound artistic sensibility and his exceptional craftsmanship.
