Soft pastel on paper (framed).
14x18"
In this portrait, I used techniques I learned from past pastel drawings regarding tone, depth and texture. This piece focuses on emotion and how they can be portrayed by using specific composition and angles. I chose to draw on textured pastel paper to capture the texture of the skin in my subject as the fragments of pastel fall into the groves of the paper. The highly contrasting lighting on the subject allowed me to create the illusion of texture and depth in the face and features. In this work, I strived to create readable emotion in the man’s face and eyes so the viewer questions what this man’s story from the look on his face.
Leah Probst is a Toronto-based Canadian artist who grew up in Caledon, Ontario in a creative family. As her passion for making art grew, she began to focus on acrylic painting and soft pastel drawing using people and animals as her subjects. Probst went on to post-secondary school at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario where she completed her Advanced Diploma in Fine Arts. After graduation, she continued her studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD U) to complete her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Probst has exhibited and sold multiple original works in art shows in galleries throughout North America. Her work mainly focusing on portraits and figures in a heightened realistic style. Probst believes that a painting should tell a story, allowing each viewer to slow down and see the beauty it brings – for each individual to take away a unique experience shared with the work of art.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
My work explores creative expression by combining figurative painting with texture, movement and experimentation of different mediums. Working mainly in acrylic and oil paint, I convey the meaning, story, and visual inspiration behind each work.
I aim to capture the physical likeness and the uniqueness of the individual. I convey clarity and honesty to the portrait, inviting the viewer to appreciate the fundamentals of the subject. I reveal the individual, looking beyond the surface toward the human condition with empathy to the personal connection I have with each subject I paint. The evident slowness in my paintings acknowledge attention paid to the layering of information, built-up levels of paint, and a complexity of mixed colours which bring the paintings to life.
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