Lorry Hughes

No art subject attracts me more than the expressive subtlety of human beings. Our many variables make us a limitless theme: a great range of features, emotion, body stance and gesture, age, ethnicity, gender, circumstance, atmosphere, activity, light, interaction - and then, as an artist, my own perception and interpretation add even more factors.

Over the years I've gained a lot of art experience in working on commissions, murals, illustrations, and through teaching. Now that I'm focused in particular on portraits and figures I'll need at least another lifetime or two.

In my portraits, I consider an excellent likeness to be essential. Other factors important to my style are a casual or lively pose and a mix of planned design and spontaneity. I like to blend realism with expressive strokes and/or textures so that the work is clearly made by a human hand.

Paint allows for infinite possibilities, especially in colour and layering, but I believe that the magical media of drawing (graphite, conte, charcoal, ink) deserve to be valued just as highly. The art can be simple, elegant, bold, delicate, understated, dramatic, or whatever best suits the subject and the intent.

Portfolio