"Ali" an Inspiration

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2014 is a must-see for anyone interested in contemporary portraiture. The exhibition features over 210 works from a variety of artists, including well-known names and up-and-coming talent. The selection committee is made up of top professionals in the field of portraiture, and they have chosen works that are both technically impressive and visually engaging.

Adebanji Alade has written a lovely article on the exhibition back in 2014, one of the author’s favorite works from the exhibition wasy “Ali” by Neil B Helyard;

“Everyone knows I love sketching, maybe that’s an understatement….but I do! Now, whenever a painter brings in that sketching prowess into painting, there’s something magical that happens in between.

Neil’s drawings are my favourites but I never knew he had those same qualities tucked into his paintings. This piece proves that LESS is MORE!

You don’t need to kill the painting, make your statement, make it well, make it comfortably in full confidence and what you get is a result like this. The painting is like mosaic of precious pearls!

I’d have lunch with him, sketch him and tell him to reveal all what goes through his mind while he paints!

A splendid piece!”

Full Blog Post: http://adebanjialade.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-favourites-at-royal-society-of.html