PORTRAITS OF LIFE'S PLEASURES AND TREASURES

         

New Table Saw and Newly Insulated Floor

          April is winding down as tight as a wet screw and believe me, I can feel that tightness in my back.  Since I've been fairly busy working around Golden Unicorn Farm, cleaning out the chicken coop, hauling wheelbarrows full of manure down to the garden area, stacking cedar logs in a pile, sawing boards and pounding them into place on the baby-barn, even cut a load of stringers to size and laid in the floor insulation, I guess I was suspecting my back to give out, which it begrudgingly did.  So on that note, I'm not very mobile today, which is too bad, because I feel as healthy as a horse and feel I have a lot of energy and drive to turn the baby-barn into my new studio.  Just sitting here at the computer hurts a great deal, so any real physical activities, other than feeding the animals and milking the goat, are on a standstill for the moment - gotta give my back a wee chance to straighten out and heal; my left leg from the hip to the knee is currently numb - "Aint this being old grand", I tells myself over and over, but try as I may to get some of my younger years' vitality back into place, even to a lesser degree, seems to be a task beyond my rapidly fading capabilities.

Portrait of My Grandson, Charlie - 4th Birthday

          I enjoy painting portraits and painting my grandson was no exception.  All decked out in his motorcycle garb, he's most likely dreaming about the day he grows up and straddles a Harley Davidson of his own.  He reminds me a bit about myself; I drove a murdercycle for 30 years - can you believe I never learned how to drive a car - motorcycles have always been my passion.  Charlie's birthday was on April 1st, April Fool's Day, but he's nobody's fool.  Since he lives in Vanderhoof, BC and I had to mail the painting, I was unable to post his portrait on the Internet until now - not much of a surprise gift if everyone sees it on this blog or Facebook.  Not sure what Charlie thinks about the portrait, most likely sooner have a toy motorcycle to play with but his mom and dad really liked it - so that's a good thing.

          Painting portraits has always been challenging for me because there always seems to be a point, where the likeness can be lost and getting it back can oft time prove fruitless.  As I built up the delicate washes on Charlie's face, I can remember reaching a point in the painting that I knew, if I didn't lay the subtle colours on properly, his portrait would most likely have to be started over.  Photographs of young kid's faces are often times very smooth and the eyebrows so light that details are lost and have to be imagined.  As strange as it seems, a person might think that a black leather jacket would be easy to paint but it's not - black may be the predominate colour but unless other colours are used, the painting of the jacket can't be properly executed - so painting Charlie did prove to be somewhat difficult.

My Daughter Brandi 

           Portraits make great keepsakes.  Photographs tucked away in photo albums seldom get looked at and now with everyone snapping countless digital photos of their friends and loved ones and then downloading them to the Internet or burning them on a disk, making it possible for those photos to easily disappear from your computer by a simple mistake - something as easy as hitting the wrong key.  The portrait of Brandi was painted many years ago, shortly after she began going to school.  Since kids from a very early age onward enjoy using crayons, coloured pencils, felt pens and paint, they usually spend quite a bit of their time creating their own little images, and Brandi wasn't the exception in that regard.  But what does a person do with all their creations after they've been attached to the fridge with a magnet?  Although most of Brandi's pieces of art were lost or thrown out, I decided to keep some of her art and make a collage of it.  Although I never really finished the painting of her, I'm still quite satisfied with the results of our joint efforts and still to this day get a chuckle when I read what she said about school.  Brandi is now in her 30's and has grown up to be a beautiful woman with a child of her own and much of her personality is still the same as when I painted her long ago - to me, she will always be a work of art in the making.

          I don't know how many of the people who read this blog have ever thought about having a portrait of themselves, a loved one or friend, even have a special pet painted.  I don't know about you, but a painted portrait is seldom put in a drawer or a box of mementos; it's usually found hanging on a wall and even though we age, just can't help getting older (I know the lb. of make-up I apply daily to hide my wrinkles isn't working for me) one never tires from looking at that portrait.  One of the last portraits I was commissioned to paint was of a woman, about my own age, who was dying, from cancer.  She gave me a photograph of her when she was much younger and very beautiful - it was a gift to her mother so she could remember her as she once looked and not some older woman, her body now ravaged and emaciated by cancer.  

          It's odd, my wife Sarah and I went to a graveside gathering a couple of days ago and as we strolled hand in hand through the cemetery, reading some of the monuments, me being 25 years older than her, we discussed the eventuality of one of us dying and what our wishes were.  When we lived on the west coast, my plan was to be cremated but here on the east coast it looks as if cremation is a lot more expensive than being buried, so we chatted about that.  I've never been too concerned with what will become of my body once I'm dead, but I did notice there was a touch of comfort as I looked at the people gathered around the casket containing someone they loved and which would soon be lowered into the ground; their presence gone forever but not forgotten.  The thoughts of both of us sharing the same plot seemed like a good idea, not just because of the cost but I have to admit, there was somewhat of a good feeling upon seeing some of graves held not just the man and wife but also some of their kids.  I realize dead is dead but knowing that love has been so strong through a husband and wife's journey together, to see it actually carved in stone, gave me an odd sensation, a feeling of even more love for my wife.  We still haven't decided anything as of yet and most likely if Sarah outlives me by many years, she will probably remarry and that's fine - just knowing, while I'm still alive, that she would like to be buried beside me when her time comes makes me feel quite wonderful and if her body winds up some place else, I'll know that while I'm still breathing air, she still truly loves me at this moment in her life.  I've painted a couple of portraits of my Sarah and I have to say, even though one of them is not completed, they put a smile on my face and warmth in my heart.  It's kind of nice to know that after I've gone, departed from this world, that when she looks at them, she will hopefully have the same feeling as I, the one who painted her with loving brush strokes.

          Yeah, to me, portraits are something special to be cherished throughout the years, even after the person depicted has left this Earth.  Somewhere through my life journey, which admittedly has been very chaotic at times, I lost all my photographs and some other personal things regarding my life at home with my mom and dad and sisters.  I'd started a double portrait of my grandfolks with their log home in the background but since this photo was one of the many that departed for places unknown, it will never be completed.  To me it really doesn't matter because I can pull them up in my memory's eye any time I choose.  But I have to say, I do miss those photos because as I hard as I try to visualize some of my family, like their voices, they've almost completely disappeared.  If it hadn't been for my sisters, Connie and Fern, who gave me a huge photo album they scrapbooked for my 70th birthday, I would not have any photos of those days.  For Connie, who died of cancer while putting the album together, that some of her last thoughts were of me, makes this album very special.  

          I never intended to write so much personal stuff about portraits; it was supposed to be a simple blog, almost an advertisement of sorts to see if anyone would like me to paint a portrait for them.  There; I've said it; I paint portraits and as much as I would like to do them for free, like everyone else, I need to earn a little money.  So, if I haven't put anyone off with my blog and they're perhaps interested in commissioning me to paint a portrait for them - just leave a comment on the blog, get in touch on Facebook or send me an email and we can discuss prices, sizes and whatever else needs knowing - cheers, eh!