THE LIFE OF A FORM

“Skull and Book”, 29 cm x 38 cm, Charcoal and chalk on Arches paper, hand-toned with shellac and pigment.

WITH NITRAM CHARCOAL

“When I started this project, I wanted to do an anatomic study of a skull in a still life setting. However, I also wanted to study light and depth through light. Value relationships are the foundation of any beautiful artwork; whether it has colour or not. It’s through the correct contrasts of light and shadow that you achieve the solidity and the life of a form. It is for this reason that Nitram Charcoal is such a good medium for studying light. Charcoal is also excellent in that the contrast reads differently up close than it does far away. And so you need to use that strength as a reminder to constantly step back and assess the harmony of values in the whole, as much as in each detail."

~ Emmanuelle Capatos

Born and raised in South Africa, Emmanuelle Capatos (aged 21) originally moved to the UK to study Theatre and French at Bristol University. However, in 2020 she changed careers to pursue art, and a year later would start training at the Glasgow Academy of Fine Art. Her focus for the next two years of study is to grow a fluency of craft - not simply to learn a language of realism that captures the truth of a subject materially, but through it to give form to an emotional or spiritual realism that lies subtly underneath. By the Grace of God, she hopes to spend her life revealing a light and beauty through art that sits so abundantly around us.