PEOPLE AND PLACES
(Watercolours)





OIL PORTRAITS
Click on the images to enlarge.
“A man’s face is his autobiography. A woman’s face is her work of fiction.” Oscar Wilde.
Well, that was Wilde being his usual waggish self. Women’s lives are written on their faces too, just a little more artfully. All our faces, like it or not, eventually turn into self-sculpted biographies.
I paint portraits, lots of them. I’ve been doing it for years and, yeah, there are people whose faces are a mask. But the mask usually reveals as much as it hides. A good portrait artist, whether a painter or a photographer, will try to peek behind it and capture the subject’s character: his or her intelligence, willfulness, humour, humility. The essential person will be revealed using the simple tools of brush, oil and canvas.
It’s a lot to ask. But you only have to look at portraits painted by the great masters – Rembrandt, Annigoni, Sargent – to know that it can be done. There are artists working today whose skill and insight are only a few brushstrokes away. I’m not there yet, but with each painting I get a little closer.
Prices start at $600.00. Please contact me if you’re thinking of having a portrait painted. No pressure. We can chat about why you want it done or perhaps kick around another of Wilde’s famous aphorisms, “Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.”
email: alanking641@gmail.com
Hi Alan
Just met you tonight at the opening of your show. As I related to you earlier, I saw the show this past Saturday and decided to return to the opening to meet you. I suppose, at some point we can engage in some discourse around art and art-making, that is, if time is in your favour. Your work is quite nice indeed.
Leroy Stapleton
yorel@sympatico.ca
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Hi Alan,
30 years ago I bought aa aquarel painting from the Norfolk broards. Do You have made aquarells in the past? Its signed by Alan King.
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Hello Matthias,
I’m afraid that wasn’t one of mine, though I have painted aquarelles in the past. I suspect it’s by a British artist with the same name.
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