Llewellyn Matthews

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Llewellyn Matthews

Italy

Llewellyn Matthews

Artistic Biography

 

In Brief

 

  • I am a classically trained representational artist painting in the manner of the Florentine Masters.

 

  • After years of part-time art studies and work, I decided to become a full time professional artist.

 

  • I am a resident of Hood River Oregon, and divide my time between Hood River Oregon and Florence Italy.

 

  • I teach at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence and at Sarum Studios in Salisbury England.

 

Education in Art

 

  • Aristides Classical Atelier at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle WA

 

  • Florence Angel Academy of Art in Florence Italy

 

  • Various Professional Workshops

 

Narrative

 

I am a traditional realist oil painter, and began studies in Florence Italy in 2011 at the Angel Academy of Art where I also now teach. My style has a foundation in traditional techniques using a palette of both traditional and contemporary pigments. I make most canvases using oil-primed linen.  Whether painting still lives or people in the studio or plein air landscapes, I prefer to work from life.

 

There was a big gap between my early interest in realism and finally being able to study it.  My efforts to find art instruction in during my college years were fruitless and yielded what seemed to me to be only abstract nonsense. I once took a course advertised as basics in drawing and painting, which turned into abstract exercises of pouring paint on the floor. I just knew this was not “it” for me.

 

So my life took a very different turn and I went to college under a scholarship and later had a successful career and raised a son.  Little did I realize that I had to wait for the resurgence of interest in classical artistic methods and the techniques of the old masters. 

 

Fortunately, while I lived in Seattle Washington, I discovered one such school, the Gage Academy of Art and began taking lessons in the early 2000’s.   Initially I could only take evening and weekend classes.  Eventually I joined Juliette Aristides’s Atelier, which is part of the Gage.  I studied drawing part-time for two years with Juliette and she remains a huge influence on my thinking an approach to art. 

 

After visiting Italy a number of years in a row, in 2011I decided to make the jump to full time study at the Angel Academy of Art.  I graduated in 2014 and became the instructor of Artistic Anatomy that same year.

 

 

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 14th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.