The Story
I’ve been working on this painting since July. For the past 5 months, I’ve followed my curiosity into this canvas, creating a visual story about Krystal. I met her two years ago at a live painting event. We started talking about femininity and being women and the softness but ferocity required to thrive and survive.
I told her about this project that I was going to be doing and we both got excited and I felt that I had met a kindred spirit. Since then, we’ve worked together at many events, both selling our work, creating visual and written stories about our human experiences. I find comfort in Krystal, knowing that there is someone so full of passion, bursting like the sun, and shining her light to the world. Over and over again I see her showing up for herself, resilient and courageous.
I’ve known for a long time that Krystal has so much success and acknowledgement for her work coming her way. The kind of knowing that you feel in your bones when you see the clouds start to open up, and you know that kind of warmth is on its way. It’s been an honor to paint her and I’m so thankful for the trust she placed in me to capture her essence.
Although I don’t know if I was actually able to capture her physical form very well (I’m still learning how to paint after all, and will be my whole life), I think that possibly I’ve managed to gather up a little bit of her spirit and softness to be placed onto the canvas hopefully like a feather falling from the sky. It’s been difficult painting my friends. One minute the painting is going swimmingly, and then the next I make a mark that seems to have taken away the entire essence of this person I admire and love. I’ts a delicate balance between trusting your intuition and carefully placed measuring while holding your breath.
Check out her work here:
The Process
The first few stages of finding a portrait are always the toughest I think. Every moment you’re placing a massive amount of trust in yourself that you could possibly ever pull it off, and believe in your vision. I feel crazy for thinking that I could chew off such a large canvas in the first place, let alone for it to be a portrait, figure, landscape and still life all in one. It’s always a messy process of pulling the portrait out of the canvas but I know its there just waiting to be pulled out.
It reminds me of that quote from Michelangelo.
“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the material.”
―Michelangelo
And here I am, being a total dork—probably dancing to Fleetwood Mac or something. 👆🏻
The landscape portion of this painting is inspired by the great Impressionists, Monet and Van Gogh. I wanted it to feel like a window into a world of peace and serenity, much like the spaces they created in their work.
I started with blue underpainting colors to peek through the oranges and create contrast. I almost always begin with at least one layer of acrylic because it dries quickly (here, it was that pinkish-red tone you can see underneath everything).
The painting progressed quickly at first, but I found myself going back over areas layer after layer. I think I redid the face maybe three times, each time softening the shadows, rediscovering the features, double-checking my reference, and playing with the temperature to get it just right.
Color is endlessly fascinating to me. Did you know that within any color—orange, for example—there are both warm and cool tones? Warm tones push forward, while cool tones recede into the background. Cool oranges often have a yellow undertone, while warm oranges are punchy, more red, and remind you of the most vibrant sunset you've ever seen. I naturally gravitate toward warm colors because they bring me so much joy, but a painting needs balance. Not everything can be given equal importance. I have to remind myself to cool things down, push elements into the background, and resist the urge to add detail to every single moment. This is a lesson I could use in my daily life as well. Rest is a necessity in order to fully enjoy the rich, decadent moments.
I added both gold and copper foil leaf to this painting. Adding it in the latter part of the oil painting is tricky though because you have some layers that are still drying, and you need a sticky substance for the foil to attach to. What I ended up doing was letting it dry completely for a few weeks before applying a medium that I stuck the leaf to. I then painted on top of the leaf so that it just shined through just a little adding that little spark of delicacy and lusciousness that you can only see in person.
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I hope this painting brought you peace and joy somehow, and that in one way or another, you feel the presence of Krystal. Wherever you are viewing or tuning in from, thank you for your interest in this painting! I encourage you to leave a little note below, about what this painting means to you and if you’d like to read more of the process or more about the meaning in the future.