A realist portrait made over many months of a friend who sat for the painting once a week throughout an autumn and winter. The accumulated time produces a different quality of likeness than a portrait made in one or two sessions — something about the subject's range of expressions becomes averaged into the final image.
The decision to withhold the subject's full identity — shown only as initial — was made after the painting was finished, when it became clear that the face had become something more than a specific person while remaining entirely particular.
About the artist
Carmen Badea makes landscapes that are first of all honest and only secondarily beautiful — she is more interested in recording the light as it actually is on a grey Tuesday in November than in selecting subjects that lend themselves to easy pictorial success. The paintings that result have a muted, contemplative quality she considers more truthful than the bright pastoral tradition.
Alongside the oils, she maintains a gouache botanical illustration practice that is more precise and patient than anything else she makes. The two practices feed each other: the broad handling of landscapes loosens the botanical work, while the precision of botanical studies disciplines the landscape painting. She accepts commissions for both.
