Alyssa Monks

Alyssa Monks is one of my favorite painters.  She is a figurative painter who does incredibly realistic paintings.  I love how these paintings, from far away, or when they are shrunken to fit my computer screen, seem so real, but on looking at close-up images of the details, the thickness of the oil paint is apparent.

These details show areas where, when viewed closely, the paintings become separated into different areas of abstraction that, put together, create a highly realistic figure.

I also love her choice of subject matter.  The distortion of the bodies and faces through smoke, water, and glass are lovely and surprising.