Lill Thelin

Luckily, things worked out well for Thelin, who has developed her own colourful style of portraits. “I can see that I’ve become much more free and playful over the years,” she explains. “Working in advertising, you have to be exact and graphic in your style, and that took me a long time to unlearn. Now, I love to mess around with colours and shapes and see where they take me!” This worked especially well for her portraits, and nowadays, mature, bearded men feature prominently in her portfolio; her explosive colours playing with the sitters’ quiet, contemplative poses. “There are plenty of paintings of perfect and beautiful young women out there.