Alejandra Hernández's candid portraits surround her subjects in swathes of colour

“I enjoy painting people and for the last couple of years I have been fully into live portrait painting. I’m very interested in the process, not just the final result,” explains Colombia-born artist Alejandra Hernández. “When you are working eye to eye with another person the painting becomes a translation of an actual situation, where everyone involved is crucial.” 

Now based in Ghent, Belgium, Alejandra has been an artist and illustrator for around eight years and her latest series of paintings have a wonderful sense of character and charm about them. Her style is bright and clashing, and there’s a lovely correlation between the poses each of her portraits assume. “So far I’ve painted lots of artist friends and people around my age because it’s been more accessible and they’ve been up for it, but I’m interested in all kinds of people.” 

This familiarity means her subjects are relaxed, often nude and completely candid. Rather than painting the person alone against a blank background, they’re surrounded by objects, belongings and decorations giving even more personality to her works. These references and symbols relate to things outside of her subject’s physical presence and highlight the intimacy she feels when painting a live portrait and how the work becomes more like a collaboration between artist and muse.   

Colour plays a big part in creating such a rich picture and it’s an important aspect of Alejandra’s work as a whole. “Colour can be a starting point for a painting. I look for colour everywhere, whether it’s composition, a particular mood or a season,” she says. “Before moving to Europe I had a more stable palette because in Colombia there isn’t really a difference in seasons and everything looks the same. When I had the experience of the shifting of light, and the total transformation of the environment into all sorts of beautiful colours and the difference in the way I felt, it made a huge impact on my relationship with colour.”