The Process w/ Nicholas Chaundy - Self Portrait

An installment in The Process related content featured on The FAA Collective Patreon

Dear Patrons,

Thank you for your continued support! This week on The FAA Collective Patreon we are excited to share with you a video featuring Nicholas Chaundy, a graduate and Principal Instructor at The Florence Academy of Art. 

“Why do we do self portraits?” Recorded in Chaundy’s studio located at The Florence Academy of Art campus, this video explores Chaundy’s personal process and reasons for creating self portraits, all while he works on a current oil painting inspired by 19th century Italian artists. In this video we learn how in self portraiture, the artist is able to investigate techniques, processes, and methods he wouldn’t or couldn’t normally investigate while doing a commission or another type of work. Nicholas Chaundy uses self portraits to study and to get into the mindset of artists he admires and by using himself as the model, is able to experiment freely. 

The current self portrait we watch in creation is an experiment with the use of a silhouette and a very heavy cast shadow on the face. As we follow his process, Chaundy explains some of his thoughts on the painting in progress, his method, and the various problems he is solving while painting. We are also shown a study he completed earlier, along with the many decisions and improvements made to the concept for the painting that has led to portrait we see in the video.

Over the past 2-3 years, Chaundy has created quite a few self portraits and aside from the opportunity of experimenting, he tells us that painting self portraits is also a great way to keep up practice, improve his knowledge of painting, and that it is therapeutic. 

We hope you thoroughly enjoy this video!

Nicholas Chaundy is a contemporary portrait artist and figurative painter based in Florence, Italy. He is a graduate of the Florence Academy of Art, Falmouth University and Central St Martins and is now a Principal Instructor in the Intermediate and Advanced Painting programs at the Florence Academy of Art. 

Nicholas first studied art at Central St Martins where he received his Foundation Diploma in Fine Arts and then moved to Falmouth, Cornwall to study Fine Arts at Falmouth University. Here, having received no prior formal training Nicholas used the three-year programme to fully immerse himself in the world of fine art, reading about, practicing and discovering the techniques of traditional painting and drawing that had been used for hundreds of years.

After graduating, he moved to Bristol to start working as a portrait painter. He then moved to Florence to study at the prestigious Florence Academy of Art. Here he went on to further his understanding of nineteenth century techniques in portraiture, figurative and still life work. Whilst studying at the Florence Academy Nicholas received a scholarship and completed the three-year programme in just over two years.

See more of Nicholas’ work at www.nicholaschaundy.com

https://www.instagram.com/nicholaschaundy/

https://www.florenceacademyofart.com/alumni_gallery/nicholas-chaundy/