I’m rather excited to share with you an artist I recently discovered. His name is Bret Pendlebury and his portrait work is quite incredible. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
A collection of portraits by Philadelphia artist Bret Pendlebury. Bret’s portraits are inspired by his collection of early 20th century photographs.
Artist Bret Pendlebury was born in Miami, Florida and grew up in a small neighborhood in the city called Coconut Grove. An urge to experience other cities and leave the distractions of Miami behind brought Bret to Philadelphia, where he now lives and creates mixed media portraits inspired by his collection of early 20th century photographs.
A peak into Bret’s studio gives us a glimpse of his design process.
The old photograph that Bret used for inspiration sits at left on the table. At center is the portrait he worked from the photograph. Bret uses watercolors and paintbrushes once owned by his grandfather in his work.
Each portrait is inspired by an old photo from his collection, some of which he inherited from his grandmother. He admits to being particularly enamored by the way women styled themselves back in the day- especially the hairstyles.
Bret credits his grandfather for the work that he creates today. As an architect, his grandfather was constantly working from photographs. He passed this skill, as well as how to paint and work with watercolors, onto his grandson.
A collection of 1930′s photo albums and yearbooks provide a constant stream of inspiration. Like the image above, his portraits often include a mysterious flock of birds in the background.
A framed digital reproduction of Bret’s original illustration. The original was created using ink, colored pencil and marker on recycled paper.
One of my favorite things about Bret’s work is the way he captures the gaze of his subject.
Bret admits that capturing reality is not his objective and cites Vincent Van Gogh, Egon Schiele and Edward Gorey as sources of inspiration for his work.
His admiration for the work of early 20th century figurative painter Egon Schiele is particularly evident in his monochromatic pieces.
A pair of gents, painted by Bret.
Prints of Bret’s original portraits are available for purchase in his Etsy shop. For more info on Bret and his process visit his blog, Facebook page, or take a look at his feature on AroundPhilly.
*All images are linked to the artist’s Etsy page.
Amy Pulliam, a self-taught jewelry artisan and the designer behind Helen Ethel Studio, was raised in the fresh country air and woodlands of central Pennsylvania but later moved to Philadelphia to pursue her studies in Art History. In addition to her work as a jewelry artisan, she is also the research librarian/historian for an historic architectural stained glass window studio in Philadelphia. Discover her Facebook page, etsy shop and blog .
