MIXED-MEDIA ART PORTRAITS

One-of-a-Kind Mixed-Media Artworks

Created by hand, each unique mixed media art portrait brings together Jérôme’s photography and Nisha’s work with pigment, oil and beeswax. Together, image and hand-worked surface become one original artwork.

A Second Creative Act

The photographic portrait is the starting point for a second artistic act. Working directly on the printed image, Nisha develops its surface through layers of pigment and wax. Each decision responds to the people, gestures and relationships already present in the photograph.

The handwork becomes part of how you experience the portrait: the depth of its tones, the texture of its surface and the way it responds to light. The resulting mixed media art portrait is entirely one of a kind—an heirloom intended to live with your family for generations.

AN EXPLORATION OF TEXTURE

A Portrait Experienced With More Than Your Eyes

I have always been drawn to artwork that invites you closer. It began with the texture of moss, dew resting on wildflowers and portraits drawn as a teenager. Later came paintings and murals large enough to enter, including a three-and-a-half-storey Jack and the Beanstalk whose story revealed itself as people climbed.

Twenty years in education deepened my understanding of how differently each person moves through the world. That sensitivity now informs every mixed-media portrait Jérôme and I create.

Your artwork begins with a photograph in which something unguarded has occurred: a gesture, an intensity or a moment of connection in which the people pictured have become absorbed in one another. The image carries a human meaning that reaches beyond their personal story.

My work begins in response to the character already held within that photograph. Working by hand with pigments, oils and beeswax, I develop a surface that follows the emotional character of the image. A spontaneous moment may invite freer brushwork and movement; a more formal portrait may call for restraint. Texture draws certain details forward, while layers allow others to soften or recede. 

From across the room, you encounter your portrait. As you move closer, its texture, depth and individual marks become visible. Over time, different details draw your attention, becoming part of the pleasure of living with a mixed-media art portrait.

— Nisha Parikh Scullino

Kristen

From Photography to an Original Mixed-Media Art Portrait

During your portrait session, Jérôme guides you throughout, paying attention to expression, gesture and the relationships between you.

At the viewing, you choose the portrait you want to live with and consider its scale and place in your home.

For a Chroma commission, the colour concept is discussed before your session so that the photographic portrait and the material work can be conceived together.

Each mixed-media artwork is developed by hand and completed over several months.

Craftsmanship & Artistry

Materials 

Printed with pigment inks on cotton rag, your photographic portrait provides the foundation for Nisha’s handwork. Colourful pigments and organic materials are worked into its surface, drawing attention to a familiar expression, a gesture or the closeness between the people you love.

The exposed surface gives you direct visual access to the artwork’s tactile qualities: its texture, depth and the marks of Nisha’s hand. Your artwork arrives ready to hang, set in a floating frame.

Over four to six months, the work develops through successive layers, with time for drying and curing. Each layer is considered in relation to the portrait, until the image and surface belong together.

Caring for Your Mixed-Media Art Portrait

Your artwork arrives ready to enjoy. Its wax and oil surface continues to cure and harden for up to six months after completion.

Display it away from direct sunlight and extremes of heat or cold. Before handling or moving it, allow the surface to reach room temperature.

During the first months, the surface may become dull as it cures. Gently polish it with a lint-free cloth to restore its shine.

For transport, protect the surface with parchment paper and cushion the artwork against knocks. Do not place anything on top that could press into or mark the wax.

If you have any questions about placement, cleaning or moving your mixed-media portrait artwork, please contact the studio.

Two Approaches

How Mixed-Media Portrait Art Begins

Every portrait session begins with photographs created in monochrome. A mixed-media artwork may develop from one of these portraits, or from a colour concept discussed before the session.

From a Chroma Concept

A Chroma commission begins as planned, with clothing, background, light and colour relationships considered as part of the intended artwork.

After the monochrome portraits, a separate series of colour photographs is created for this concept. These images form the photographic foundation for Nisha’s interpretation through pigment, oil, beeswax and texture.

Colour is part of the original mixed-media artwork. These portraits are not offered as conventional colour photographs.

From a Monochrome Portrait

At the viewing, you may choose a monochrome portrait to be developed into an original mixed-media artwork.

Monochrome draws your attention to expression, gesture and the way light falls across a face. A glance or the closeness between two people can hold the whole portrait.

The photograph holds the expression, relationships, light and composition. Nisha responds through the material work, developing its surface and giving it a different physical and emotional presence—often within a restrained or sepia palette.

In the Chroma mixed-media portrait art, colour becomes a way to interpret what is perceived beneath the surface.

When I was fifteen, studying art in England, my teacher Elizabeth gave me a portrait exercise. The man she chose had blond hair and a kind appearance. As I looked at him, I sensed something edgier that 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. He wanted to keep the portrait. I remember how he continued looking at it, as though he had recognised something. Later, Elizabeth told me I had seen something real in him.

That instinct never left. Today, it informs the clothing, background, light and colour relationships through which a Chroma portrait begins. Nisha responds through her own eye and hand, developing that interpretation by hand and in colour. The final expression emerges through our collaboration.

— Jérôme Scullino

Jane Reucassel

When Your Portrait Comes Home

We talk a great deal about portraits being passed down through generations. I sometimes think we forget to say how much we want you to enjoy them now.

I hope yours makes you happy. It sounds simple, but it matters enormously to Nisha and me. You have given us your time, shared something of your family and trusted us to make something personal. We want you to love having it in your home.

When we personally make the white-glove delivery, we get to share a little of that happiness with you. It is one of the pleasures of working this way: we know the people we are creating for, and we get to stay involved all the way through.

Your reaction means a great deal to us. We care about the work, of course. We also care about what it means to you. 

— Nisha and Jérôme

Only a few sittings each year are devoted to these singular commissions. Begin a conversation with us about your portrait and upcoming availability.

Lucy Gagnon

Begin A Portrait Conversation

You do not need to know exactly what the portrait will become. Simply tell us who it is for, and why it matters now.