Marty, The Calabrian Back Packer, Size 54 x 54 cm Acrylic on canvas
This is my entry for the 2021 Kilgour Prize that has been rejected. Its a composite image from a session I photographed with Marty, a visiting Italianback packer from Calabria, Southern Italy. She’s a passionate student of art and now, especially Australian Art. It was a fortuitous meeting here in Maitland just before Covid 19 hit Australia. She had hoped to study here but as lockdown luted she was forced to return home. I hope to revisit one more portrait of Marty. This work was a challenge as I’m still learning the correct colour and tonal relationships of the human face.
I’ve kept in contact with Marty and she’s been through tough times back there in Calabria. All her studies were delayed and then cancelled as she had hoped to study in the Netherlands, once Australa was no longer and option but that fell through after multiple lock downs. Now that she’s finally vaccinated she hope’s to now study in Bilboa, Spain.
The style of this work had a slight influence of Piero della Francesca, as that artists is one of Marty’s favourite renaissance painters.