Mandarin

Raquel Alvarez Sardina was born in Barcelona. At the age of seventeen she joined Academia Leonardo da Vinci. In 1986, she started a degree in Fine Arts. Whilst doing the degree she attended academia Sant Vicenç and Boter/Santalo. She completed a drawing course at ‘Academia Lorenzo de Medici’ in Florence. After graduating in 1991, she came to England where she studied a Masters Degree at Cardiff University.

Drawing influence from the Master painters of the spanish Tenebrism of the Barroque period, she has developed a personal contemporary style to represent beauty. Her painting method is slow, precise and full of feeling. It is as though she wants us to slow down and contemplate a few simple objects in silence. She spends a considerable amount of time setting the composition; each fruit or object is placed carefully in the space. When she is happy with the composition, she draws directly onto the canvas with a brush.

She finds painting fruit in the tree still attached to the branch to be the most satisfying. “I love to paint the intricate shapes of the leaves against the roundness of the fruit. I enjoy the complexity of the subject, with the leaves creating unusual perspectives, spaces and light between them”. Raquel works in a studio in the garden. Half of the studio is painted grey, a colour that is neutral and absorbs light. This creates the best environment for Chiaroscuro style of painting.  The other half of the studio is painted a lighter colour, better suited to lighter paintings.  She positions fruit next to the window to make the most of the light to create a strong contrast.  Sunny days are better for contrast and warm light.