"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)
"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!
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.
