Rominha by Isabella Watling

This portrait was painted at the Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence, Italy. Rominha posed for 1 month and I painted it entirely from life, under natural light, using the sight size method. Rominha is Peruvian but moved to Florence as a child with her family. This is the last of 5 portraits I painted of her over a period of 3 months. It was wonderful to paint one person so many times, as it gave me the opportunity to experiment with composition and technique. She was an incredibly inspiring model who was so present throughout the process. We exchanged ideas and looked at old master paintings together to help me solve problems I encountered in the composition along the way. In my portraits I strive to evoke the timelessness in the old master paintings I most admire, but at the same time, create something relevant to now.