Remembrance

STILL  |   2004  |   oil on canvas, 24" x 20"
STILL |
2004 |
oil on canvas, 24″ x 20″

Enid was the first dog I’ve ever lost.

She was my Boston Terrier, the matriarch: a little General, my love, and my first model. When we had to say goodbye to her (after a great but much, much too short life, age 14) I couldn’t bear to look at her photographs. The pain was too sharp, and would make me catch my breath or dissolve. But her art I was drawn to. I found solace and comfortable release in the more abstract feel of her, and I could recount the little bits that comprised what made her whole: her thick neck, the arch of her back, the exact color brown in her eyes, and her crooked teeth. Her artistic essence was my salvation.

OLIVER    |   2014    |   oil on canvas, 12' x 12'
OLIVER |
2014 |
oil on canvas, 12′ x 12′

Since then, it’s been my great honor to be called upon to create remembrance portraits for others. I try very hard to understand what made the subject truly them, and endeavor to include tiny sips of their life into their portrait. I hope that I’m successful.

If I could ease someone’s grief  the slightest bit, then I’d be happy. If I could paint a safe harbor to grieve more comfortably, and if — eventually — that space could give way to a sigh or even a slight smile of remembrance, then I could ask for nothing more. Art is very powerful, but I think in no way moreso than to relieve suffering. I will always be thankful for the opportunity to act as emissary to the grieving, and attempt to build a bridge between worlds.

Devotion

DEVOTION | 2011 | oil on canvas, 15" x 15"
DEVOTION |
2011 |
oil on canvas, 15″ x 15″

It’s Valentine’s Day as I type this.

On a day when the world-at-large celebrates being in love, I found myself wondering how that translates to my art. But like with other artists and self-portraits, my work tends to veer off more traditional paths.

‘Devotion (2011)’ is a painting in which I tried to explore the notion of loving someone or something that is not — by nature — capable of loving back in a reciprocal fashion.

Five years later, and I’m still exploring alien love.

COSSET  |   2016  |   oil on canvas, 10" x 8"
COSSET |
2016 |
oil on canvas, 10″ x 8″

This week, I just finished an oil painting that I’ve titled ‘Cosset (2016).’  In it, a fancy goldfish floats on air towards a feathery mum, whose petals attempt to communicate an urgency with the fish. the language of the petals and the fins are mirrored in the soft colors of each. But what they are broadcasting I couldn’t say.