Gasp! These breathtaking portraits are the work of Netherlands based artist Katinka Lampe. I’ve written about her gorgeous paintings before… in 2010. Um, how did I let almost an entire decade go by before writing a second post? Trust me, I will not let that happen again! Here is the description of her work from Katinka’s site:

“Katinka Lampe paints portraits. Or at least, you can clearly recognise the representation of a person. Yet, this is not the main motive of the painting. The portrait merely serves as reason to make the painting. The portrait is the imagery concept. Her paintings greatly appeal to the beholders. Conscientiously and with a great sense for beauty she portrays her models, who are generally quite young. The resulting portrait is not an exact copy of reality, but instead a visual impression of it. By including things like a wig or a balaclava or putting a lot of make-up on the model’s mouth she adds an unusual or artificial character to her portraits. Lampe’s work is both vulnerable and distant at the same time.”

Beautiful.