Featured Artist Cecile Michel

Art Printz

Collecting Art, take a look

Artist Cecile Michel presents a collection that reveals hidden stories, whimsical memories, and a remarkable technique. Visit her website to see more of her portfolio. As a child, I loved drawing, daydreaming, creating, and writing stories, but I believed my skills were fixed. Whatever I could do at 10 was the best I would ever be. So, drawing remained a hobby for most of my life. My parents travelled a lot for work. When I started my retail career, I moved from France to England before finally settling in Australia. I met interesting characters from all walks of life, and realised how important friends and family can be. During COVID, like many, I had more free time and reevaluated my life, deciding to take drawing seriously. I taught myself realism, focusing on strong contrasts and likeness, drawing everything I encountered and manipulating reference photos to add hidden messages. An unexpected solo exhibition opportunity opened new doors—introducing me to deadlines, passionate people, and new learning experiences. Traditionally, pencil drawings are framed and protected behind glass, but I found this process delicate and frustrating. It prompted me to experiment with stretched canvases. The textured surface challenged me to adapt my techniques. Instead of relying on different graphite grades for tones, I now use a single pencil and various makeup brushes to blend and push the powder into the canvas, often employing fine erasing to add intricate details. For a long time, I avoided portraits because capturing likeness was difficult, but last year, after practicing more and winning first prize at a local art show, I realised that portraits are less about accuracy and more about emotion. Just a few lines can evoke sadness, empathy, or connection—hidden behind every wrinkle, scar, and smile are memories, stories, and experiences that viewers interpret uniquely. As an artist, I write the first line of a story. Yhe viewer writes the rest. It is still important for my mental health to draw serious portraits as well as fun objects: the portraits let me express myself and help connect strangers, whereas the quirky objects help reset my mind and bring a smile to people’s faces.,

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to paint LANDSCAPES with DEPTH Atmospheric PERSPECTIVE

Image
landscapelandscape paintingartpaintinghow to painthow to paint landscapeslandscape painting tutorialhow to paint in oilsoil paintingpainiting in oilsdepthpainting depthpainting tutoriallandscape oil paintinglandscape oil painting tutorialpainting landscapes with oil paintlandscape painting tipsartist - Take your art further with Tisch Academy httpstischacademy Get instant access to 400 hours of Portrait Landscape Seascape Art Business and Still
Read more

New Junction Adding a Station Pilot Siding Part Four Adding the finer details

Image
new junction2019everard junctionchadwick railwaymodern image railwaymodel railwayDRSclass 20bachmannhornbygraham farish00 gaugen gauge0 gaugesams trainssams trainsthomas the tank engineECMLLNERsidingshow tomodern image layoutdapolBRWCMLGWRclass 800building a layoutbuilding a model railway - In This episode at the modern image 00 gauge layout we delve deeper into the progress on the Station side of the layout by Sorting out the finer details in
Read more
Image
Two portraits – one unfinished in underpainting stage Painting Technique: Glazing I often bore people with long conversations about my use of glazes, without realising they don’t know what I’m talking about. So I thought I’d write a post about this wonderful technique, and how it has transformed my art. It’s not complicated. Glazing is applying transparent layers of paint over another dried layer of opaque paint. One benefit is that highlighted areas retain their saturation and luminosity, and don’t turn chalky, as is the case if you mix colours with white. Shadow areas can achieve a depth of colour you can’t achieve with a simple layer of opaque paint. The disadvantage in using this technique is it relies on some forethought in preparing a suitable underpainting, and that underpainting has to be allowed to dry before applying the glazes. This obviously slows down the painting process. Note: I use oil paints, and everything I say applies to that medium. You can just as easily us...
Read more