How is it that for centuries, humans have always been drawn to the human form?
From painters to sculptors, there has always been this compulsion to depict someone - through a face, a gesture, a gaze. Something in us recognises something in another, and we want to hold it still long enough to really look.
Since I was a child, I was always drawn to faces. Women in particular, for reasons I never fully understood. That fascination followed me through years of studying make-up artistry, beauty therapy, even an Interior Design Architecture Diploma - where I was supposed to be learning architectural drawing but found myself far more interested in the life drawing sessions.
For a long time I thought it was just a quiet interest, unconnected to anything. My career took me elsewhere. But here I am - and the faces were always waiting.
A series born from that fascination
The figure paintings I've been working on are small in scale but large in presence. Each one is a study in light and shadow on a human face - the way emotion sits just beneath the surface, the way a glance can hold an entire story.
The Interrupted Moment - a woman in a red robe, caught mid-turn. There is something guarded in that glance back. A private moment, briefly shared.
Lost in Her Thoughts - her gaze is elsewhere entirely. Whatever she is thinking, she has no intention of sharing it. That interiority is what I find most compelling to paint.
Composed - blue eyes, a white collar, a gold earring. She looks away without an apology. There is a stillness to her that took many sessions to find.
Woven in Tradition - a woman braiding, her eyes full of a quiet joy. There is warmth and movement here, a life being lived rather than posed.
Each of these paintings is an original framed oil, one of a kind. They are part of what I think of as a continuing conversation with the human face - one I suspect I will be having for the rest of my painting life.
Are you drawn to the human form in art? I would love to hear what it is that stops you in front of a portrait.
Marta
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