About

I am a painter working in the United States. I was born and raised in Romania, lived for more than two decades in New York, and then moved to Southern California.

I came to oil painting as an adult, after exploring other mediums, and find that oil is the perfect format for me, with its ability to be blended and layered, painted in thin glazes, or in thick daubs of luscious color. This is because even though my work tends towards realism, it also maintains a degree of abstraction and imperfection, with visible brushstrokes, layers of impasto, and stylized elements.

Also, oil resonates with me from a personality point of view. The pace and rhythm of painting in oils, the periods of waiting mixed with periods of feverish activity , the vigor and substance of oil paints themselves are all elements that inspire me.

Portraits and human subjects in general are my inspiration. I sometimes paint from life, but there are limitations to the models’ ability to sit for as long as it is required, so I work from numerous photographs that I take myself. I scrutinize all those photos for a long time, I prune through them until I settle on the face or the setting that is the most representative for my subject, and that becomes the inspiration for my next work. I also find that the results are as close as possible to perfect if my model/subject is someone I know, understand, and find unique.

Those that influenced me are too many to name without sounding pedantic, but Lucian Freud is at the very top of the list, with his powerful and visceral portraits. Every day when I am in the studio I think of how long he worked and how intensely he focused, truly a contemporary master. Michelangelo would be the second, and I still worship him even though his works were the basis of all my thousands and thousands of painstaking training studies. I would List Caravaggio as the third for his ability to capture movement and expression, for his exceptional works done without any prepping, and for his daring spirit. 

My themes changed in time and right now I am exploring the mix of oil paint portraits and the decorative arts, inspired by Klimt’s gold period. I am also thinking of multiple canvas paintings that can also stand on their own and this will be my next focus.

If you want to contact me, send and e-mail to anca2nd@gmail.com