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CONTENT AUTHOR

DEBORAH MENDS

Deborah Mends has been practicing art in France and internationally for over 30 years.
His artistic training began with French state certification in the painting of faux marble, faux wood and trompe l’oeil.

A “sample” of painted yellow Siena marble from the portfolio

Deborah worked for a time in London and Paris for private clients and interior designers, an example of whose work is depicted in the trompe l’oeil ceiling below. The balustrade and open sky are painted on a huge piece of canvas in the workshop, before being taken down and moved to be glued (marouflage) on the ceiling of the client’s dining room.

Sky painted trompe l’oeil in the studio

A turning point was a commission for a trompe l’oeil design for the church, the creativity of which led her to undertake studies to improve her drawing skills to further explore creative artistic work.	Detail of the original church trompe l’oeil design illustrating the ancient biblical text
It started Deborah on the long drawing journey, with training as intensive as earning a living and raising a family allowed. Years of research and work have extended the courses received at the Parisian schools of applied arts Boulle et Duperré.	Sketches of the years of training at the Ateliers de Beaux-Arts in Paris
This was supplemented by work as a copyist in drawing at the Louvre. Then came three years of studies in perspective, life drawing, anatomy, composition, drawing and painting at the Ateliers de Beaux-Arts in Paris, each year depending on the authorization of the jury to continue the Next year.	“Japanese dead Salesim”, Deborah Mends
It was also an important art studio period with several different master artists, to study early painting and drawing techniques. This included learning to grind pigments to make oil, tempera and wax paints, cutting hen feathers to make drawing pens, and learning to draw charcoal ink. wood and nuts, for example.	“Landscape”, Deborah Mends

The art of Deborah Mends

Art instruction

“The French learning system is not for the faint of heart,” says Deborah. “I learned humility and compassion the hard way. As a teacher, today that means I know the paramount importance of patience and compassion in bringing out the qualities that lie within us. all.

It’s a scientific fact that everyone is creative, and I believe the easiest and fastest way to unlock it is through drawing, because it’s a skill anyone can learn, just like anyone can learn to read.

I also believe, with a passion, that we all need to learn to see as artists do: it allows us to see the beauty around us where we may never have been able to see it before. I believe this special show can definitely change us, it can also change the world or at least a small piece of it, for the better.”

Combining 15 years of classic art techniques learned directly from masters in France with a modern understanding of how the mind learns, our method enables students to draw realistically – and within a week of instruction – even if they are convinced that they are not at all creative.

Art translation

Deborah Mends Art has been providing art translation and interpretation services to major museums and cultural institutions in France and abroad for three decades, with an additional specialization in legal translation.

Paul Serusier, “Le Talisman”