Matti Paints - Chris and Alex

Some of you might recognize Alex. And as a result I imagine you will probably recognize his brother Chris. 
Yes, I got a pair of twins to do this project.

I was quite excited at this prospect. Not just because of the fact that I love Alex and Chris to bits, but also because I was so fascinated to paint them. I wondered how different they would end up looking. Would it effect the outcome? Would I even be able to tell them apart at the end?
The task was simple and exciting so when Alex suggested it, I jumped at the chance and began to formulate a plan.
I was also curious to see how Alex would turn out again. He's the first person other than myself who I've now got to paint more than once. I was curious to see what would change about the painting. Would the painting be the same? Would there be emerging patterns? Exactly how much of the art is driven by the circumstances and how much is situational? How much of the person am I really capturing?
It was a daunting but exciting challenge and I couldn't wait to start.
About an hour before we started, I got a call from Alex telling me that him and Chris had got in a fight and he wasn't sure he could go through with it.
Excellent, I thought. An added level of tension. I was getting really excited to paint at this point.
For a million different reasons I could've taken any part of this and turned it into a painting. Anger. Brothers. Twins. It was an exciting prospect and just getting better.

In the end, I liked the palate they chose. I felt the music and colours really reflected who they were. Alex, the slightly more uptempo one, and Chris the one who is slightly more serious and natural one.
Around song 8, I was running out of paint and so I ended up thinning the paint I had left considerably and working with them in much sheerer coats. As a result they both look a lot more natural than some of my other ones and a part of me really likes that about the image.
They both look like brothers still. They share the same dark eyes and cheeky smirk, but each is reflected with their own character. Chris slightly more sophisticated, Alex, a bit more structured. Or maybe they're reflecting each other's characters just a little bit too well.
In the end I was thrilled at the experience and would gladly paint them again if given the opportunity.

Matti Paints - Subject Alex

This is Alex.

We met at the coffee shop and in the short time I've got to know him, I have to say there is something very special about him.
He's very talkative, so one of the things I found so odd about this experience was he was quiet. Silent. Songs would pass and we wouldn't say a word. This was something that I was initially confused by, but the more time passed the more I hoped he was simply absorbing the experience. He's a very hard one to read, but I like to think that he enjoyed the experience. I hope he did. I don't know.

Many of Alex's songs were songs of longing or thankfulness. It was a very heavy playlist so I'm wondering if that played a part in it.
The strange thing was his colour choices were so vibrant and bold that the somberness almost flies in the face of them. It's a case of DESPITE the colours and the actions, the piece somehow still carries a feeling of sadness to it.

Or maybe the feeling is hope. Hope for what exactly I'm not sure, but there is a strange optimism to it as well.

Pictured: Moroseness

Funny how on this piece I'm really focusing on the outcome. The journey itself was a good one, and the end result was fun, but it's just a strange thought to think of how different the outcome was compared to what I was expecting.
To find out how to become a part of this project please contact me: HERE