International Artist – August-September 2019

Art Challenge 13

Finalist

Matthew Almy
Illinois, USA, Kings of the Earth, oil,
24 x 18" (61 x 46 cm)

My Inspiration
This is a study for a series called Children of
Dust. One of the inspirations for this series
is a line from an old hymn that says “Put no
confidence in princes, nor on man for help
depend; He shall die, to dust returning, and
his purposes shall end.”

My Design Strategy
The design came from some very quick
sketches out of my head I had done several
years ago. Lately I have been trying to be
more immediate with nothing set in stone
and to let my paintings develop on their
own. The model is a writer named Mike
who recently moved from New York City
and showed up at my studio one day. I knew
almost immediately upon meeting him that
he was going to represent several characters in
my ongoing series. So I set out to do studies
of him to get to know not only his physical
appearance but also him as a person. The
robe he has on is an unfinished costume I am
making for another painting that I figured
would work with this idea as well.

My Working Process
My process of painting is to go quickly with
a lot of paint right from the beginning. My

primary aim is the effect of light and the

atmosphere, bringing the image as close to

the impression of nature as possible. I use

large brushes, palette knives, old plastic forks

and anything else that comes in handy at the

moment. I let the first few layers dry for a

few days and then scrape or sand down the

painting. I then glaze over everything with a

muted grey, scrape that off in areas and start

the painting all over again. I will do this as

many times as I feel is necessary until the

painting is finished. This process of building

up, destroying, then building up again seems

appropriate to my subject matter and I hope

helps tell the story.

Contact Details

» Email: [email protected]

» Instagram: @matthewlawrencealmy

No hard edges within shadows. — Harley Brown