4 Drawing Secrets of Charles Miano

Drawing Art - Charles Miano - OutdoorPainter.com — All featured art by Charles Miano

Take a moment to go inside with us as we spotlight portrait painter Charles Miano for inspiration that appeals to all artists in regards to painting and drawing.

Charles Miano (b. 1977) is an American artist whose art explores humanistic values, using a classic foundation and contemporary inspiration.

Male torso from behind, charcoal on paper, 20×24

Through his personal exploration of the nature of painting and of nature itself, Miano champions representational art past and present. Imbued with life, vitality, and spirit, his work has often been referred to as “visual poetry.”

A lush palette, the dynamic use of light and shadow and an urgency of gesture are his most distinctive signatures. His brushwork — bold in color, complex in texture, sometimes structured, other times casual, driven in turns with directness or spontaneity — conveys the complicated relationship between hand and eye.

His work as a whole — balanced precariously between opulence and humility — reveals, more startlingly, the ongoing battles within the self between emotion and reason in art as well as life. His great passion lies in creating those personal works, born of inter-spiritual reflections in his private studio that are equally wide in scope, whether drawings or paintings, from head studies to anatomical scales, figurative paintings to still-lifes.

“Light and Life are central concepts to my core vision,” says Miano. “As an artist, I feel that they are relevant to reaching the heart and subconscious of a human being. My expression through figurative art tends to be passionate and deeply emotive.”

Four Drawing and Painting Secrets of Charles Miano

1. To give the gift of light to others, meaning the ability to see and capture the “light effect” in a painting. This is possible partly because he is able to convey complex thoughts in a clear and easy to understand manner, thanks to his public speaking and communications background.

2. When it comes to Miano’s artistic technique, some of his “power” comes from the ancient texts of Chinese painting. “In the East the poet painters and monks practiced painting as an expression of wu-wei or spontaneous action, effortless effort applied to calligraphic brush strokes. My brushwork is based on an in-depth study of eastern calligraphy and Chinese painting.”

3. Miano’s works convey a sense of passion and power that can communicate on a subconscious level and go straight to the heart of the viewer.

4. “My power is to communicate a deep, heartfelt experience of my reality by channeling emotional truths through a visual language and not dwelling on superficial facts or a conglomeration of unnecessary photographic details,” Miano says. “As I continue to pursue nature and classical beauty, this expression in drawing and painting can be summoned up as Light and Life.”