MIXED MEDIA

Trichromatic

The colour beneath the surface.

ORIGIN

When I was fifteen, studying art in England, my teacher Elizabeth gave me a portrait exercise. She chose the model for me: a short Irish man from the school, with yellow hair and a kind appearance. But as I looked at him, I perceived something else. Something edgier. Something I could not put into words.

So I expressed it in colour.

I painted him with Chinese inks: yellow for the hair, green in the shadows, black in the contours. When he saw the portrait, he said he loved it and wanted to take it. But I remember the way he kept looking at it. He had recognized something. Later, Elizabeth told me I had seen something real in him.

At the time, I thought I was a fraud. My cousin could make beautiful pencil drawings, and I thought that was what a true artist was. But I understand now that my gift was different. I was not only drawing what was in front of me. I was perceiving something beneath the surface and finding a way to give it form.

That instinct never left.

BLACK IS THE COLOUR

A Trichromatic work does not have to be colourful.

In this work, black is not absence. It is not neutrality. It carries the portrait. It becomes depth, dignity, beauty, and power.

EMOTIONAL DIMENSION

The colour concept may begin before the photograph is made — in clothing, background, light, form, focus, softness, and what is allowed to disappear.

THE PHOTOGRAPH BEGINS THE WORK

The final artwork continues that interpretation through pigment, oil, beeswax, and texture.

AUTHORED ARTWORK

A Trichromatic mixed-media work is not a colour version of a portrait. It is an authored artwork.

COMMISSIONING A TRICHROMATIC WORK 

Begin with a hello

A Trichromatic commission begins with a conversation. This work requires trust. It asks for openness, patience, and a willingness to be interpreted, not simply represented.

The process begins with a concept, continues through the sitting, and resolves slowly through the mixed-media artwork. Each piece is created individually by hand. No two works are the same.

Trichromatic commissions are accepted selectively.