My experience and interest in animal painting began at an early age, at the same time that my artistic career was gaining impulse and I was beginning to consider the possibility of dedicating myself to painting full time. By the time I was 20 years old, I was able to get a place to exhibit my works in the prestigious “Los Coleccionistas” art gallery in Buenos Aires.
Over time, I have also been a member of organizations dedicated to spreading animal-art, such as “Nature artists for Conservation” and “Society of animal artists”.
Although, my learning and search for an artistic identity and development of technical mastery, led me to represent different themes, my interest was always focused on realistic and traditional painting. In fact, I have come to experience techniques as varied and different as pastel, ink, charcoal, watercolor, acrylic, oil, etc. These techniques allowed me to address subjects such as landscape, human figure, still life, among others. From the admiration towards the great masters of painting I could understand the extreme importance of capturing the effect of light, as a first resource to emphasize in a convincing way both the volume and the sensation of space within the scene. Among the real artists that I have most admired are Velázquez, Rembrandt, Sorolla, Zorn, Sargent, etc.
However, as I was deepening my learning and expanding my knowledge of the artistic scene in my country, I was able to get to know the work of a renowned artist who impacted me in a special way; his name was Axel Amuchástegui (1921-2002). This admiration led me to meet him in person with the purpose of showing him my first works about animals and asking him for criticism and guidance. Although I did not learn about his technique and creative processes, it was when talking to this artist, when I found a stimulus to continue on the path I had started to follow.
My growing admiration for animal art, also led me to discover the work of great contemporary artists, such as Robert Bateman, John Banovich, Paul Augustinus, Bob Khun, among others. I can affirm that such artists were my reference and model to follow for a long time.
As for the creative process, this is always a challenge, since my purpose in creating a work is not simply based on the copy of a beautiful photograph. It is a process that demands an analysis and understanding of the species that I decide to represent. I am interested in capturing the character and achieving a natural expressiveness that in some way awakens the viewer’s attention and generates feelings of admiration. I am looking for the observer to feel transported to a different dimension, to an environment that as human beings we are not accustomed to frequent, accustomed to our daily reality.
Therefore, beyond basing myself on photography to create the works, on very few occasions I find a single image that fits this purpose, so for each work I use several photographs, together with preparatory studies drawn in pencil. Thus, there will be images of which I am interested in lighting conditions, in others the expression of the animal, the color of the coat, etc … However, I always leave a large part of the process released to creativity, which always emerges as I achieve certain advances.
To create the composition, I have different resources that are not only limited to the treatment of the figure and face of the animal, but also involve the management of the environment. At this point I think it is also important to establish priorities for the treatment of detail. I like to vary the degree of detail so that I can direct the viewer’s gaze towards the main focus of interest, which obviously resides in the eyes and expression of the animal. Therefore, one of these resources consists of representing in a semi-abstract way the elements of the environment, especially those that move away from the first plane..
Although the detail is important and attractive to me, over the years and as a result of my evolution, I find the texture and richness that can be achieved with a limited number of strokes very interesting. This is one of the reasons why I really enjoy painting in oil. The possibilities offered by this technique are amazing and incomparable.
Within the animal theme, I have found special interest in the representation of big cats, mainly tigers. I find the look impressive. Everything that this transmits and that it is possible to associate with the particular character that the felines have; It is a type of look that has a lot of depth, and I personally associate it with moods, perhaps of balance, passivity and self-control. I perceive that tigers have a quality of always being at their center, with nothing that alters them. In this sense, I also intend to awaken those feelings that are latent in our human nature.
My passion and taste for painting is not limited to animal art, in fact, there were some years when I painted still life. Cultivating such a kind of painting was very beneficial for me. In fact, it was essential to achieve greater technical mastery, since it is a theme where it is customary to paint from nature. This turned out to be a great challenge at first, but I think it served as a solid step before investigating outdoor painting, also known as “plein air”painting. This is a discipline that I enjoy very much, since it implies a great challenge to work in an open space, where there are no concrete limits (as in the case of a photograph) and the light changes rapidly. This fact obliges me to synthesize, and the objective that I propose in these cases is to capture the lighting conditions in the scene, beyond the descriptive detail, which passes to a lower level of importance.
Another way in which art led me a few years ago was that of teaching. This experience is very enriching for me, since I can share my knowledge and collaborate with my students, whom I thank for trusting in my ability and experience to accompany and nurture their learning process.
Currently I keep my goal to continue my process of artistic evolution, both in the painting of animals, as in any other variant that creativity impels me to take. However, I still maintain the purpose of contributing through my works, to create awareness in favor of the conservation and protection of the species of the animal kingdom as well as of nature, which is obviously the source of life itself.
