When I was first asked to paint the portrait of this cat who is no longer "here", I thought of angel wings and cavorting amongst the clouds....but I was told "no", that this cat never loved anyone but the woman shown here holding him......and that it was very poignant how he had his paw on her arm. A border of brightly colored catnip mice was NOT going to work for this portrait!
Then I heard that the photographs that I was to use ( the portrait below was painted using two separate photos ) were taken at a gathering, a sort of farewell gathering of friends of the woman and her cat.... he was gravely ill and she was saying goodbye to him.....and he to her....before she let him go.
S and LBI finished this portrait 3 days ago and am only now posting it. While painting it, and for a few days afterward, it haunted me.
I think I felt the way I have heard that psychics and healers feel after touching objects or visiting places that are emotionally charged with the energy of a living being traversing what we call "here" to whatever may be "there".
As I painted this portrait...I was drawn in, and a lot of something.......... energy, vibrations, emotion.....came rolling off the photos in waves. I felt like a witness to a very private and intimate moment and my best hope is that I have been even a little bit successful in honoring that. Thank you Annie for trusting me to paint this.
1 comment:
I think you captured the relationship beautifully: the deep love that can occur between a cat and her owner.
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