"Laughing in the Park" Commissioned Portrait by Juliane Porter (16" x 20" Oil on archival quality, gallery wrapped canvas. Click image for better, larger view!)
"Laughing in the Park" is my latest commissioned portrait of a beautiful young brother and sister. I had a blast painting this carefree and playful pair. Can't you feel the bond between them?!
While painting, I was reminded of a favorite Emily Dickinson poem, There is Another Sky, which she wrote for her beloved older brother.
There is Another Sky
There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields –
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!
~ Emily Dickinson (Written for her brother)
"Lizzie Dances under the Pier in the Sands of Isle of Palms" Commissioned Portrait by Juliane Porter. (16"x12" Oil on Archival Gallery Wrapped Canvas) Click for a better, larger view.
Lizzie Dances under the Pier in the Sands of Isle of Palms is my most recent portrait of my dear, dear friend's beautiful daughter.
"Siblings" Commissioned Portrait by Juliane Porter. 36" x 24" Oil on Archival, Gallery Wrapped Canvas. (Please click for better, larger view)
So incredibly inspiring is the love between these beautiful siblings! While painting these two little cherubs, I couldn't help but fall in love with them!
“Mama and Her Cubs”, 24″ x 36″ Commissioned Oil Painted Portrait on Canvas (Click image for better, larger view)
It was an absolute honor to create this commissioned oil painting of my gorgeous friend, Bick Fielder, and her three beautiful children. Over the past few months painting them, I was overwhelmed by her amazing spirit and the perfect love she has for these darling babes.
Painting for me is an act of love.
When I first began painting portraits, it was an adventurous inquisition into the human condition via a portrayal of different personalities, life-experiences, age…
What I didn’t predict discovering, fascinating as our unique traits may be, was that as I relayed these attributes to the canvas, they effectually became less and less important. Each layer of paint leading to an ever-deepening understanding, dissolving any once-perceived separation to reveal a bond, a connection, to the center of what matters;
the heart.
I spend hours upon days upon weeks with each painting, understanding more and more intimately what makes the subject who they are in order to portray and honor their essence. During this meditative process of focused concentration, thoughts subside and there remains only what is.
A vast, connecting and infinite
love.
And everything that separates us becomes everything that makes us
exactly the same.
"Prelude to Fall on the Savage River" by Juliane Porter (30″ × 40″ oil on archival linen) Please click painting for BETTER LARGER VIEW.
Download 08 Symphony No 8 In F Major Op. 88 – 3rd Movement – Allegro Grazioso – Molto Vivace
Before you read on, first click the above music link!
Autumn had just begun turning leaves copper and gold when I painted this scene of the Savage River last year. I was hypnotized by the rhythm of leaves, sunshine and water skipping along boulders then smoothing into a deep ribbon along the calm, mossy bank.
A beautiful adventure of life leading life.
Then, just last weekend, as my husband and I basked in our first indoor fire of the season, listening to Dvorak's 8th Symphony, I was instantly transported back to the scene of my painting.
Take a listen to Dvorak's gorgeous symphony singing the emotion and adventure of life that so spoke to me when I painted "Prelude to Fall on the Savage River".
What pieces of music do you associate with Autumn?
Today is a tribute to Italy two ways…
First, via the gorgeous voices of Il Volo, a young trio with voices of gold who've already gone platinum in Italy. Their name, “Il Volo,” meaning “flight,” was chosen to signify the feeling that these three young tenors were about to spread their wings and fly. And indeed they have! You will be blown away! (Thank you, Kaye Cloutman, for introducing me to Il Volo. Visit her lovely website, Clout&About)
Teenagers, Piero Barone (17), Ignazio Boschetto (16), & Gianluca Ginoble (16)
And my second tribute to Italy, a painting of a peaceful olive grove in Umbria. Umbria is the region of Italy often compared to Tuscany, without the touristy aspects. Jim and I picnicked beneath these beautiful, old trees enjoying wine, salami and cheese. It was a blustery day, like today, sunny one moment, cloudy the next.
"In the Umbrian Olive Grove" by Juliane Porter (Oil on 18"x14" canvas ~ Click for a better, larger view)
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