Portrait Commissions For '50 Years At The Village Vanguard'

Carolin L. Prinn, Portrait of Mel Lewis, 2016, graphite on arches aquarelle, 300 x 300 mm

Carolin L. Prinn, Portrait of Thad Jones, 2016, graphite on arches aquarelle, 300 x 300 mm

I have had the happy opportunity to create a pair of portraits specially for inclusion in '50 Years At The Village Vanguard', a new book by Dave Lisik and Eric Allen. I have truly enjoyed being a part of this project, celebrating the lives of these two jazz legends and look forward to seeing it in its final press. The book is currently on Presale through the site www.thadmelvjobook.com and is set for release early next year. 

To coincide with the books release, I am also offering an open print edition of the two portraits, available for a limited time through my shop.

The Painting Process

Carolin L. Prinn, The Angel of Divinity Does Not Trust The Snake in The Garden of Eden, 2016, oil on Belgian linen, 1200 x 800 mm

Here I show the process behind my paintings. The underpainting, which I studied through the masters Jan Van Eyck and Leonardo, allows an almost surreal sense of depth to come through the transparent layers of oil, allowing an incredible amount of detail. Stylistically, I have also developed techniques inspired from The Symbolists, Renaissance masters and Romantics. This work is concerned with the inconceivable 'Socratic (or Platonic) Ideal', a common motif in my work, then uses literary reference and the Fairytale, The Sleeping Beauty, to illustrate a modern condition.

Portrait of Jonas Schollmeyer

Carolin L. Prinn,  Portrait of Jonas Schollmeyer, graphite on Arches aquarelle, 400 x 500 mm.

I have been steadily at work on portrait commissions of late. This is one I finished recently. To capture the rather delicate and beautiful features, I used solely layers of HB graphite, which creates an effect reminiscent of silverpoint. I particularly like the result. Before handing it over, I had a chance to show this and others from my collection with PRO4 in Friedrichshain, Berlin.