What made you decide to become an artist? What is your background ?
The circumstances of life took me away from one of my reasons for living which is the sea, and I needed to feel its landscapes, skies, waves etc. , by reproducing them on canvas, and thus I live the painting. I need to feel the same emotion as if I heard the wind and the waves. And I try to share this enthusiasm. I started by drawing old sailing ships, in pencil and ink, and I started on my own in watercolor and then in acrylic. It is a gradual and banal journey that led me to exhibit, and to make people love my paintings to the point of selling them. Nothing makes me happier than knowing that I've sold a painting to someone I don't know.
What are the 3 things that make you different from other artists?
I have no preconceived method. I paint as I like and how I want. I have the attention to detail taken to the extreme My skies and my waves reflect my moods while remaining realistic.
Where does your inspiration come from?
I was born 300 meters from the sea and until the age of 18 I "lived" the sea.
Tell us about the conception of your works, do you have a long preparatory work or is it quite spontaneous?
The longest work is to imagine the subject in situation by viewing a multitude of images so that my head, after having amalgamated, sorted, retains only one that I will try to transcribe on canvas or paper.
What do you want to show through your work?
I want to show what I love. My work, or rather my pleasure, is so laborious (I compare it to a difficult childbirth) that it is difficult to explain it.
In your work do you use techniques or materials that are out of the ordinary?
I discover new ways of painting or drawing almost every day, but thanks, I guess, to people who have experienced them before me.
Do you have a favorite format? Why ?
In paper, I like the 74 X 54 cm and in the acrylic the 1 m X 72 cm, which allow a better vision of my work.
What difficulties do you encounter in your work?
Lack of time is my main enemy with orders that spoil creativity
How do you work? At home, in a shared workshop, in your own workshop?
I am lucky to have my own isolated workshop in the deep countryside.
Does the work of an artist take you to travel a lot?
Only for exhibitions. My favorite subject is so vast that my imagination will never be sated.
What has been the best moment of your career?
It was the day I gave the President of Emmaus International a portrait of Abbé Pierre, in the house where he lived.
How do you see your work in ten years?
If God gives me life, because I am an old man, I hope to continue painting the Maritime domain by adding reasoned fantasy.
What are you currently working on? Are you planning an exhibition soon?
I am preparing 5 paintings of stormy seas for a gallery on the shores of Lake Geneva for the 2022 season
If you could have created a masterpiece in the history of art, which one would you choose? Why ?
Perhaps the raft of the Medusa, for its history and for its environment.
If you could invite a famous artist for dinner (dead or alive), which one would you choose? Why ?
Without hesitation Marin Marie for the beauty of his work.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
