Sacha Newley - Artist's Statement, Working Methods & Pricing

ARTIST’S STATEMENT
The painted portrait continues to be vital and relevant because of the intimate relationship between artist and subject conveyed by paint. The subject’s inner life is apparent in the movement of the brush. The artist has the unique power to imagine reality rather than being its mere servant, bringing an extra dimension to the portrayal that can be revelatory. The painted portrait celebrates the human presence on many levels and puts the subject in touch with a chain of being that passes down the centuries.

The portraiture of the past was blessed with a higher responsibility; not only to convey real likeness, but also to interpret literature, to body forth scriptural virtues, to create historical monuments. It was ennobled by the task of visualizing the human story. My project is to restore a sense of classical weight to my painting while remaining true to contemporary themes.

Painting’s continuing relevance is its stillness. Only painting can present us with the image worthy of the mind’s prayerful silence, giving the journey of thought its source and destiny in one, and yet being, by virtue of the richness of association that created it, inexhaustible in the ramifications of its meaning.

Sacha Newley

WORKING METHODS and PRICING
Portraits from life normally involve four to five sittings of approx. ninety minutes each. The artist is willing to work on location if the sitter cannot make studio sittings. If he must work from photographs, the artist prefers to take them himself. This involves one sitting of approximately an hour-and-a-half.

For prices, please contact the artist directly here >>