Sheryl Luxenburg

Ontario, Canada, Blindsided, acrylic on linen, 30 x 60". The Count Ibex Collection.

My Inspiration

I am a Canadian hyperreal painter who uses watercolour on paper and acrylic on linen with airbrush and regular brush to capture ultra-realistic subject matter.

I refer to the two decades I previously worked as a licensed psychotherapist specializing in trauma as highly rewarding. This academic training and professional experience concerning the turbulent human psyche has directly influenced my work here, as my subject matter always revolves around people or objects that experience some type of distress and angst. I describe my figures interacting with water as a symbolic expression, a metaphor for a fatigued emotional state, a sense of alienation and the process of cleansing disturbing emotions. I describe my models as the vessels that carry my projected emotions.

My Design Strategy

I am internationally known for accentuating with paint a flattened threedimensional look. Capturing this specific ocular perception is a hallmark quality of the photorealism art movement, which began in the United States in the l960s and was coined by Louis Meisel. I became fascinated with this genre over 40 years ago when studying under the famous firstgeneration American photorealist painter Tom Blackwell.

My Working Process

My drafting and painting methods are grounded in classical formulae. I work in drybrush style using a dappled technique of lying different coloured marks of paint side by side and by glazing with thin translucent layers. Through the decades, I have maintained an allegiance to water-based media and have invented unusual methods of layering absorbent compound on top of gessoed layers and in mixing paint with granulating medium. In all compositions I strive for tight details on the main subject and use an airbrush to suggest or blur the background.

Blindsided is from a series called In The Shower #2. I always take my own photographs and use them as primary source material. For any given painting I can easily take hundreds of photos. I then use the images to design the subject matter into a series of about ten paintings. After the design process is completed, I grid the images into sections and print them out for reference. Overall, I find this methodical way of working to be efficient and relaxing.

Contact Details

Email: sheryl.luxenburg@gmail.com

Website: www.sherylluxenburg.com