Girl in a fur coat (2026) Original Oil Painting by Stanislava Cherkasova

I painted this portrait as an instant impression of a girl I had never seen before. What caught my eye was the interplay of light and shadow falling across her coat and face in a slight contre-jour. I didn't aim for the portrait resemblance here, instead my attention turned entirely toward the paint itself: gray tones shifting from smooth passages to rougher, more gestural marks where the texture of the surface begins to speak on its own terms. Gray, so often dismissed as neutral or absent, revealed itself here as one of the most complex and emotionally rich territories a painter can explore. The challenge was to find tension, depth, and atmosphere without reaching for the easier seduction of color. The figure gradually receded, leaving behind only what truly mattered: how light flattens, softens, and transforms whatever it falls across

Materials used:

Oil

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 70 x 80 x 1cm (unframed)
• Signed on the back
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: People and portraits

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