THE PAINTING OF PORTRAITS (artist’s statement)
Next to Sacred Art, portrait painting is (for me) a deep spiritual experience, a prayerful endeavor.
In and through the physical characteristics of the person being painted is a map guiding me through and beyond emotions to near where the soul of the person lives. Here I coax the soul out, so-to-speak, with whispers and fleeting glimpses through compassion, intuition and something mystical. This hopefully endows the finished image with a FEELING of who the person being painted IS.
I always speak in the present tense of portraits because they have a soul and the soul always lives and is present. AVH