Alyssa Monks – Photo-realistic paintings
September 18th, 2009 | 
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Once in a great while an artist surfaces with talent beyond the norm. This is definitely the case with Alyssa Monks. Alyssa takes about 1,000 pictures for a small series of paintings, using the images to play with the color and get the paintings as real as possible.
At first glance this image may look like an intimate snapshot caught by a photographer. This painting shows a girl peeping out from inside a steamed up shower and seems to peer into the camera lens.
Alyssa Monks paints these images, paying meticulous attention to detail. The 31-year-old said,
I have always wanted to paint for as long as I can remember. I took classes at school and then went to college and University before ending up at the New York Academy of Art.
The girl in the paintings is Alyssa herself. She uses images of herself to avoid issues of self-consciousness that might arise with models. She is also looking into working with family and friends in the future.
The New York artist is in demand, currently showing at a prestigious exhibition at the National Academy Museum. Plans are also in the works for an exhibition at the Kunst Museum Ahlen in Germany and a museum show at the Noyes Museum in New Jersey for next summer. I certainly hope that she will expand her exhibition so that I can view more of her work in person. Until then, you can view more of her work at AlyssaMonks.com.
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