There was a portrait sale promotion running strong. A rare occasion because I have always found it difficult to marry the two; art and sale. Now, in light of the amazing energy, stories and client-friends I met through this Mother's Day Special, it will now be an annual event. Being able to continue to meet and grow with amazing art collectors, like the dynamic duo, Kyra and Lauren, is truly a highlight of being a painter. Now, you too, get to share in their awesome tale of Love, Family and Art, through this blog, 'Meet the Collectors'.
While commissioning a painting may seem relatively straight forward on the surface - send a picture and deposit and await your painting to be done, woo-lah! But, its almost anything but. Dreams and visions are shared, ideas are bounced back and forth, and sometimes 24 email replies in, you might close the deal. Ms Lauren, rolled all of that energy into her initial communication and emotionally blew me away. Someone without my visionary soul may have thought Lauren to be a little cray, when opening the 18 paragraph long email (I may be exaggerating a tad bit) or when browsing the dozens of images she sent of her family. Images, not to be painted per say, but just so I could get to see their personalities and interactions and car selfies :) What I DID SEE was LOVE. Now with a knot in my throat, and tug on my heart, I knew this commission would be happening and by any means necessary.
Lauren and Kyra's task to me, paint their family portrait, not as they humans they are but as mice. Yes, no spell check needed - Mice. I was to not only paint their family, Lauren, Kyra, Elijah and LorenBello as mice, but as mice that would also clearly resemble each person. A gorgeous, caramel complexion woman, with long tresses and librarian glasses.... and the wide smiled Kyra with the curly locks, the handsome boy who loved baseball and his older brother whom was extra-chill. She believed that I could not only make the mice look like them, but feel like them. And oh, also, can I do it in the resemblance of the book "Country Mouse, City Mouse". A book the pair felt spoke to their experience. YESSSSSSS, as artists, this is what we do. And as dreamers this is what collectors do, and it is amazing truths like these that is the reason I created this blog. People should know these stories behind the artwork we create. The world should be aware of the artist that thrives in us all, in particular the new creative force of the collectors.
That studio pick-up, Mother's Day weekend was filled with tears and gasps and sharing. I shared how I had been sick and almost reached out to them to say I wouldn't make deadline. How I had been working on a painting for my own mother that I had not finished in time for the precious day because life had got in the way. BUT, something beyond me, pushed me to finish this one painting. Something pushed me to want every fence plank just right and every mouse filled with life. In that moment, hearing Lauren's story in the quiet of my living room, I learned why. Why I am an artist. Why we fight the fight. The couple shared with me later that when they left they felt like they had a baby in the back seat as they drove the painting home. They shared how their children cried when they placed it over the mantel. I would like to share something with them now. Lauren and Kyra you showed me that while most see love as just a feeling, we can also SEE love, because I saw it, when seeing the both of you together. So now you guys must remain together forever, for you are part of the definition.
