A commission to do a portrait has always been offered to me at the most needed times. Having been unemployed since Mid-March, I contacted a former patron to take photos of portraits I had done in the past. Under the pretense of wanting to add the images to my newly formed website, I conjured a way to suggest another portrait. I didn't have to. She approached me.
The first painting I did for Mrs, Brown, it was of her late husband, W.C. I had never met him. I had one photo to go by and the love I felt when she described him. It is interesting to look in the eyes of an absolute stranger. Not the living eyes, but the eyes, captured in a moment in time; on a photograph. Who was this person and how were they when they were here on this earth? The above is a portrait of Mr. Brown.
I must have been able to render him closely enough, because not long after that she asked me to do one of her three adult children. I had only met the middle daughter but not the other two. Each of these commissions came when I absolutely needed the money and not a moment to soon.(I apologize for the glare, these were obviously not professionally photographed.)
Seven years had passed since I had seen Mrs. Brown. She's close to 80 now and still the outspoken spitfire I had come to admire. This recent commission is of a woman who recently died who was married to a pastor of the family. She wanted to give this to him as a gift to help him in his grieving process. Here are the photos I had to go by.
As you can see I got paint on this-- good thing it was a copy!
Some years have passed.....
I've never met the husband or the wife I've painted, and this time, there really was no description of the wife or her personality. I only had the photos and a hope that I captured the culmination of who she was, as the photos span quite a bit of time. This is an in progress painting as I can't tell what color her eyes are, and both parties are out of town and unreachable until after September 20.
This got me to thinking about connections. Connecting to the dead through the love of others and the spirit that comes through in a photo. Connecting to people online through wires and codes and the words that they write. It also got me thinking about love in all it's forms and layers and manifestations.
In the midst of all this--suffering and life and death decisions are very close at hand in my world, with a parent and a close friend with cancer. When one is faced with these very real in-the-body-here-on-earth situations it is just a reminder that love never dies. Any labels of who you are or were or what the relationship is or was, falls away and all there is, is love.
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Comments
And its wonderful to read that these opportunities come along when most needed!
JulieShanti, always nice to have you here and love, well you know, wouldn't have it any other way!
Cranky, Your welcome, It is not the preferable way, I would of much rather have met them in person, really. The 3 adults photo that the portrait was taken from was at a funeral.
Thank you Sheila, it is especially as you can see with what there is to work with, and her over years of time.
Kateasely, I debated over the mouth because in the top photo her teeth are kind of jagged and a tooth is missing on the side, and the other photos it looked as if her teeth were capped. but I wanted to get the way her teeth were slanted. Same with the top photo having such intensely dark shadows, and trying to determine what her skin tone was.
Thanks annaliese, you are a treasure!