Andy Lloyd

As I have developed my painting style down the years I have found myself painting more and more of the same kind of picture. This is not unusual for artists in that they want their paintings to be recognisable. But my direction is somewhat unusual in that I have leaned towards portraits, which is not particularly fashionable to be honest. But I find painting portraits to be a challenge, and I enjoy creating them.

Painting celebrities can draw people's attention to your art display in a dramatic way. We all have a remarkable ability to perceive the most intricate detail in a person's face, and a portrait will often not quite capture the exact likeness (I seem to like the challenge). So people will look at a painting and wonder if it's of "'so-and-so', you know, that film-star". These 'celebrity portraits' are of Elizabeth Taylor, Mila Jovovich and Marilyn Monroe. I work either from colour photographs or black and white photos.

More celebrity portraits. The painting of Marilyn on the left was a commission undertaken in the summer of 2004. The paintings of Madonna and Diana are essentially reproductions of famous photographs by Mario Testino. The painting of Diana sold at exhibition, and the one of Madonna I actually sent to her home in Wiltshire, England to see what kind of response I would get.

These next paintings are typical of my exhibition works: the far-away look at the window. They give me a chance to work on the effects created by strong, horizontal light, which I find fascinating.:

I was pleased with this Kate Moss portrait as well. It shows off another interest I have to my work, and that is how to capture the camera's 'shallow depth of field' effect in a painting. This painting is for sale if any Kate Moss fans are interested in it.

Here follow some paintings from years past along the same lines, most of which are in the hands of local collectors:

Slow Art

"The camera, if it's lucky, may tell a different truth to drawing - but not a truer one. Drawing brings us into a different, a deeper and more fully experienced relationship to the object. A good drawing says: 'Not so fast, buster.'

"We have had a gutful of fast art and fast food. What we need more of is slow art: art that holds time as a vase holds water. Art that grows out of modes of perception and making whose skill and doggedness make you think and feel; art that isn't merely sensational, that doesn't get its message across in ten seconds, that isn't falsely iconic, that hooks onto something deep-running in our natures."

Robert Hughes writing in The Times, June 2004

This portrait of a small child is one of my favourite commissions.

Strong colours can work well with portraits, but I suspect I overdid it a bit with my Moulin Rouge...

These more subtle paintings were snapped up a couple of years ago, which indicates the way to go perhaps.

I recently re-painted this portrait of Frank Sinatra. I don't paint that many chaps, it has to be said, but he's such a wonderful character and I hope I've captured some of that here. It will be a painting available at this year's Cheltenham Open Air Art Exhibition.

Cheltenham Art