Greetings from Madrid
 

I too have read Allan Rahbek's post and his call to new members to speak up and I am no longer afraid of being eaten by portrait artists.

Before I go on, I would like to let all of you know of a forthcoming exhibit here in the Museo del Prado. The title of the exhibit is "Portraits in Spain from El Greco to Picasso" and will be inaugurated on the 20th of October and will run till February 2005 (I think). If any of you have the opportunity to be around Madrid these coming weeks and months, please DO go and see this show--needless to say a tremendous source of knowledge.

I am 41 years old, married and with 2 children. I have been working as an artist since 1980. I specialize mainly in sacred art having painted altarpieces for chapels and churches, although I have also done profane subjects as well, including portraits. I am also an accredited copyist in the Museo del Prado and have executed copies there since 2002, some for personal study and others as commissions. I am currently working on a copy there these days for a client.

I am having trouble attaching images here (keep getting a message that a pop-up window was blocked). In any case, you may see some samples of my original work as well as the copies in:
www.geocities.com/cmygoa

Please feel free to say what is on your mind

Great forum! Good to see that there are many dedicated to this difficult and lonely craft. (Are there any out there from around this area??). Good luck to all.

Carlos Ygoa

Welcome to the forum Carlos.

I am glad that you took the challenge and showed up.

I have seen your homepage and hope to see much more of your work on the forum, especially if you could show some details. As you must know by now, we love details, the closer the better.

Feel free to comment on everything you like.

Welcome again, Allan.

Carlos,

The blocking message you're getting is coming either from Windows XP if you have second edition - or more likely, from your security software - such as Norton Anti-virus. Or it could be settings in your browser. If you poke around these areas in the preferences or options, you may find the problem.

Welcome, Carlos! Your work is very impressive. We look forward to hearing from you often on the Forum... and we promise we don't bite.

Welcome, Carlos! It was wonderful to look through your website. I am looking forward to seeing your comments and your work here on the Forum.

Hi Carlos,
I have only read about a painter from Portugal, a German and a Swede and a couple of Dutch, So we are a minority. We have to cry loud.

Allan

Welcome Carlos,

I really enjoyed looking at your site, although not every picture seemed to come up this time. I especially liked your drawing of the little girl and your lovely and beautifully designed Annuciation.

I think you will find a really strong appreciation for Velaquez on this site. I have a particular fondness for him as well as Goya, Murillo and Zurbaran. One day I would love to visit the Prado and see Zurbaran's St. Casilda, one of my favorite paintings. He had been able to orchestrate yellow, violet, blue and red into a stunning color composition, something very difficult to do.

Jump right in, we all did at one time!

Thanks.
 

Thank you all for your comments...didn't expect any reply or reaction for a while. Mil gracias!

Cynthia: I will try your suggestion on the technical problem although I am quite illiterate in the techno field.

Allan: Will try to send close-ups next time. You being from Denmark should have the least trouble coming over to see the Prado show. Hope you can some time soon.

Sharon: What can i say about the Old Masters? I always say that the book on painting has been written and closed a long time ago, and we are merely the fortunate inheritors of a timeless legacy... I have been getting the same comment on the website photos from others. will try to solve that soon.

Thanks again to all!

Carlos

Closing the book on painting.
 

Carlos,

I don't think the book on painting has been closed, it has only not been taken out of the library much in the last 80 years. There were a lot of painters at the turn of the century working with new idea of color and picture content, especially in France. Unfortunately painters like Monet, Manet, Freiseke and Renoir, to name a very small sample were superceded by the excesses of modernism and post-modernism. It was easier for painters to "express themselves" without effort, knowledge and training. This would be akin to an untrained dancer leaping on to a stage in a performance of Swan Lake to "express herself".

I do not believe in ancestor worship in painting, deepest appreciation, yes.
To think that every great has been done and explored leaves us merely to continually to reuse old ideas and risk being static and irrevelant instead of courageously exploring new ways to express the divine and beautiful.

I too believe that we are into a new beginning, a new "Ism" .

What it is to be called, I don