Have you ever looked at an image, made an assumption, then done a double-take to find out you were wrong? That was my experience with Francois Chartier. I was prepared to write an article about this talented photographer and then was shocked to find he was actually a painter!
An art director and illustrator for twenty-five years, Francois made the shift to full-time painter in January of 2000. All of his paintings are very realistic (meticulously painted in either acrylic or oil) and large-scale, ranging in size from 36” to 58” square. Each one takes three to four months to complete.
Francois applies his acrylic paint freehand “with an airbrush on a smooth gesso ground. Million of dots are used to create the unique texture. No white paint is used, the gesso ground being used for the whites.”
Francois has completed two full series of paintings, and is working on his third. The first series, Pop Culture Icons, was finished in three years. It is composed of ten paintings, most of them in the 58” square size.
His second series is entitled, Simply Flowers. It consists of 15 paintings in either acrylic or oil using the same techniques mentioned before.
The peony below looks so authentic that you can almost smell its sweetness. And the the detail in that crystal glass vase is extraordinary!
The third and current series which Francois is working on is Water World.
These paintings are all oil on canvas, and are breathtakingly amazing. Just looking at the image below it’s difficult to believe that this is a painting and not a photograph.
The artist was meticulous in showing the bubbles and light reflection in the water, and it’s this attention to detail that gives Francois’ work that pop of realism that caused me to do a double-take.
I encourage all of you to visit Francois’ beautiful website at www.francoisc.com and spend some time experiencing more of his intriguing paintings.