La llamada (The call)
 

Hello to all.

I believe this is my first time to post in this section. Haven

Beautiful painting Carlos. You've designed a very compelling composition.

I've seen this phone stare many times with my own daughter, although with her off at college I don't see it near enough.

PS: You can go 400w x 600h for your posts as long as you don't break the 100kb maximum.

Carlos-- Beautiful! I especially like how you've handled details like the embroidery on the cloth, and her jewelry, and how you've incorporated the contemporary cordless telephone. . . yet managed to maintain a timeless feel to the overall piece. Just beautifully done!

What a beautiful painting.

I never thought a mobile could be so beautifully depicted.

Your model is great and you have beautiful strokes.

Carlos,
congratulations with this very successful composition. I like how you have balanced the elements and yet created a vivid interplay between the elements. It has a strong abstract quality.
Everything about it is charming - your daughter, the colors and your way with shadows.

Allan

Thanks Mike, Teri, Claudemir, and Allan.
Thanks for viewing and for the comments. My daughter is constantly with her cell phone. Gets on my nerves. This painting was like my therapy, you know, confronting our fears and phobias.
Claudemir, will it be hexacampeon this year in Germany???

Thanks again.

Just gorgeous!

What a wonderful painting, Carlos, and beautifully painted! I love the modern aspect of your daughter's phone in an otherwise traditional composition.

This is painted so well, just gorgeous. I also love the cell in there....very creative and smart, but still so old-world-looking.

Michelle, Linda and Kim,

Thanks for looking and for the comments. Didn

Carlos,
it's a very succesfull composition, a sort of modern version of the woman reading a letter.
( maybe you could try the " girl reading her email " next time? :) )
Anyway I like this one a lot, you did a nice job with the expression of her face, and the still life is beautiful.

Carlos, this is awesome! Every aspect of the painting is quite solid down to the smirk as she smss'.

mischa

I hope so... You know our best players very well I suppose.

C. ya.

Mischa and Marina,
Thank you both for your remarks and taking the time to look at the painting. I

Hello Carlos,

A very beautiful and thoughtful painting.

My eye jumps all around your canvas like a child in a candy shop.

Great job.

Carlos, I absolutely LOVE this painting!! It has it all - old world feel, beautiful portrait, emotion, great composition and fabulous still life - along with an unexpected drop of modernism.
Hats off!

Carlos--

This is a superb work....

Beautiful!

(wow...all these replies cos of a cell phone..)
John, thanks for looking...that was a nice comment about the eyes dancing around the canvas.
Heidi, hats off toYOU and YOUR work. I am always in awe when you post your stuff. I

Dear Carlos,

This painting is simply stunning, and to me it's a favorite among the collection on this Forum. Velasquez would be proud! I love the lyrical composition.......

Keep amazing us,

Garth

Dear Carlos,
come on, you know it is not ONLY the cell phone. I find both the quietness of the subject and the balance of the portrait and the still life really pleasing to the eye. The harmony of greys, the beauty of the drapings, everything conjures to a great work
Chapeau

Ilaria

PS I just came back yesterday from Menorca, we really needed a bit of spanish sun, what a gorgeous country you have!

Garth, not quite as stunning as YOUR last piece, although your comment made my day. A comment as nice as yours should be framed...and notarized :D
I spent practically the whole day at the wheel driving around under the (merciless) spanish sun that you talk about, Ilaria...could use some of the british clouds and rain, otherwise another drought year would just drive the olive oil into the "prohibitive " category. Thanks for your comments and for taking the time to look. I purposely left the painting limited in colour and just threw in the plate of cherries last minute to give it a bit of spark and to act as a bridge between still life and figure.

I

Carlos,

What a painting this is!

Every time I look at it, the same thing happens: I see a very simple, beatifully composed, serenely contemplative work that appears totally traditional. Then my eyes hone in on the focal point: the cell phone! What a shock! Then I begin to look at her clothes and realize they are actually quite modern. First it's her tank top, then the rest of what she is wearing. It all appears traditional, yet it is totally contemporary. Then I start realizing that all the elements--the table, the linen, the vase--could easily be in a house of the present. It's all modern! But the general impression reverts to traditional. The longer I look, the more layers of this process repeat themselves.

Carlos, it is a LOT cheaper. Also you would not imagine that there is a drought here too, and we are not supposed to water the gardens with hose pipes. Nobody understands how a drought combines for the spring maybe starting in June, maybe.
I understand your concerns for liquid gold: we bring olive oil back from Italy every year. This September coming back we had a nasty car accident : miraculously not only we did not have a single scratch, but 50 kg of oil, our yearly reserve, did not spill !!! (volvo cars...)
I am just dieing to come to Madrid, a couple of years ago my husband left me behind, he came for a Lazio-something football match, but seeing the last developments of Italian Serie A I doubt Lazio will make it for any cup in the next couple of years.
Enduring a football match would be a good way for me to trade in two days into art museums.

Ilaria

Dear Carlos,

You have done a completely stunning job on this beautiful painting. Lovely composition, edge management, color harmony.

I would love to see some VERY close-up close ups, if you get a chance.

Congratulations!

Alexandra,
Your comments edify me, given the level YOU have as a painter. I

Carlos,

What can I add that was not already said. Just lovely!

I'm with you Enzie!

Sorry I came to this so late but I had to add my words of praise. I LOVE IT!

Carlos,

Beautiful painting, subtle color enhanced by a really original and lovely composition.