About
CARMEN DELPRAT ART
“Fine Artist, illustrator, painter, printmaker”
Carmen Delprat is a professional contemporary fine artist & teacher who lives in Newcastle, Australia.
Newcastle based Australian Artist.
CARMEN DELPRAT is a contemporary FINE ARTIST who works in a range of creative disciplines specialising in illustration, oil painting and printmaking.
Where Imagination Take's Flight.
The multidimensional world around us has been a conceptual cornerstone for most of Carmen's career as a figurative and landscape artist. She is fascinated not only by the external visible appearance, but also the invisible vibrations that delicately radiate outwards and slightly touch our experiences with interconnectivity. Her work embodies an interplay between nature and the spirit and our connection to time.
Her portrait illustrations represent the spirit of femininity, emitting grace and strength. Each portrait is fused with multiple layers revealing a symbolic reference to our connection to nature and time, fused with dramatic atmosphere and rendered in detailed tonal realism. Her landscape paintings evoke feelings of nostalgic bliss and fascination.
Her illustrated portraits merged exotic sea shells, designed to ignite sensory perception, intuition and imagination. According to Carmen, shells have a calming vibration, they remind us of the ocean and that recollection can be very relaxing. It is believed that the hard texture of the shell symbolises a strong mindset. Since the seashell does not dissolve in water and it is resistant against the tides of the ocean, the symbolic value of shells relates to having strength and a mentality that dose not give up under pressure.
Each piece is rendered in coloured pencil and merges several styles of fine art, surrealism, and symbolism. The beauty of the shells varied hues, shapes and textures combine with our own nostalgic memories of collecting shells along the beach bridges the viewer with the artwork creating a visual dialogue, one that is both soothing and strong. Carmen hopes her artworks stimulate feelings of interconnectivity, rejuvenation and well-being.
Whatever the medium, Carmen is compelled to fuse multiple layers of imagery that morph into one composition and softly alternate the main subject and reveal its narrative. The intricacies of her work illustrates the complexity of thought, visions and memories simultaneously capturing a glimpse of the energy that surrounds us.
Carmen works mostly instinctual. Commencing her ideas with observational drawings to structure a linear sketch and later allow the pencil or paint to reveal the next direction. Other times she arranges her ideas using Photoshop. Collaging and merging sections of previous drawings and photos into new interpretations and expressions to use as a starting point to paint. While studying her Masters Degree at the University of Newcastle, Carmen created photographic silkscreen prints from tonal rendered drawings.
The oil painting series are vivid in colour, lively and responsive. Often created in large scale, with thick expressive paint and complicated overlay of fused imagery. Carmen seeks to represent their personalities by morphing their image into surrealist landscapes and dramatic colour.
Carmen's recent work on landscapes embody a collective nostalgic yearning to reconnect with nature, the environment and local inhabitants. Living in Newcastle, Carmen feels very connected with the ocean and its wavering landscape. Through her art she has captured simultaneously the inner world of thoughts and memories with the external physical world coiled up with the concept of time. The nautical shell reveals the past, presents and future with its ratio progression and binds the composition.
The silkscreen prints are complex and fused with metaphor on the notion of time. They begin as detailed pencil illustrations that transform in the darkroom with the photo emulsion technique. The hand-mixed metallic inks create an iridescent reflection that captures the light.
The Tree Lady illustration Collection portrays the sister spirit of nature, Carmen's love for trees fused with feminine strength, beauty, reflection and contemplation. It can be seen as the inner journey of the self as a woman, the metamorphic transformation – with twisted roots seeking an attainment of wisdom through the depths of experience and a balance of heritage. The intention is to ground the viewer in a calm yet captivating awe with the intricate detail, provoking the senses and seeing beyond the beauty.
These illustrations are mostly large scale allowing Carmen's full arm to move and map out the formation of morphing the female figure to a large root system that can be similar to a long flowing gown. The technique is first linear than tonal. Gradually building up form and emphasis.
"Making art allows for a temporary feeling of tranquillity and happiness. Art has the power to communicate on a different level and transmit and evoke this positive energy. To see into my hearts vision and express the world around me through art is a beautiful experience and one I wish to share".
Carmen.
Please feel free to send any question you may have regarding the collection to:
carmen@carmendelpratart.com
All original artworks are available for sale as high quality prints.
Inquires on originals call : 0425 755 624
