Born in 1975, Alex Tzavaras is a specialist portrait painter working in oil and charcoal who will undertake portrait commissions for children and adults.
Trained in the classical art of working directly from life, Alex Tzavaras combines sound foundations with his own individual and contemporary style, handling his subjects with a natural ability and maturity beyond his years.
Tzavaras started art school at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in 1994. But, disillusioned by a lack of formal training, he left and in 2005 discovered the practical instruction he was looking for at the Lavender Hill Studios; an atelier set up by artists Nick Bashall, Scott Pohlschmidt and Ann Witheridge to teach the techniques of traditional figurative art. Concentrating on the fundamental elements of drawing and painting, Tzavaras thrived at the studio and in 2007 was awarded a scholarship, becoming the first student to be asked to teach at the school.
Tzavaras describes his approach as, 'painting exclusively from life, as truthfully and directly as possible. I like to paint fairly loosely and impressionistically while trying to maintain 100% accuracy. I want each brushstroke to be there for a reason and not just for an effect.'
As his tutor Nick Bashall writes, 'After his many years of intense training in traditional painting techniques, Alex has developed in his portraiture a confident painterly style, achieving the likeness with a mixture of bold strokes with ones of delicate sensitivity.'
Alex started his professional career as a portrait painter in 2009 and has since showed at The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition at The Mall Galleries in 2010 and 2011.
Portraits are generally carried out in approximately three sittings and sittings can be undertaken either at the artist's studio or at the client's home. For Children's charcoal portraits Alex will personally meet and spend time with the children and then work from his own photographs.