The Beauty of Elegance and Simplicity

 

Lea, 2020, oil on panel, 16 x 20

One reason I love classical portraiture is my love of period movies, the ones where the women wear hoop skirts, lace, beautiful sleeves, and floral print patterns.  You get the idea!  Some of my favorites as a child were "Little Women" and "The Secret Garden".  As a teenager through college I adored any Jane Austen classic that was put into a movie "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility".

When I look back on these films that depicted times in the past, there is a romance and a beauty that is harder to find in our modern culture.  We wear leggings and old t-shirts (I am guilty of this too you guys so do not think I am judging you!)  But I still find myself yearning for a time of beauty.

One of my favorite places to be that gives me those feelings is Colonial Williambsburg.  I also enjoy visiting historical places or older homes and gardens.  Those feelings of nostalgia and romance become very real to me.  When I cannot visit those historical places, I do simply enjoy being in nature.  The tall grasses, the large trees, the water...I can see deer and squirrels...maybe a raccoon or turtle if I am lucky.

The young woman in this portrait, I was inspired by the artist, John Singer Sargent.  The title is called Lady Agnew.

I really appreciate Sargent's use of color and color temperature!  The lavender of her dress, her rosy pink skin, the floral patterning on the chair, the periwinkle wall behind her.  Here dress looks soft and tissuey, and ethereal.  She practically is floating.  

In my portrait, I tried to think about those things.  My sitter posed in her mother's pink satin wedding dress and she is holding a flower.  I was thinking about the legacy of portraits and of life when I painted her.  When her mother got married, she did not know what life would offer to her, but now she has two grown children who will probably one day get married and have children of their own.  A wedding dress is a symbol of that day...and sometimes a wedding dress is passed down from generation to generation.

We all yearn for simplicity and the peace and beauty it provides.  As an artist, being simple is a continual challenge.  Simplicity provides a timeless elegance and grace.  Perhaps through this all I am searching to make something that is timeless, that transcends time, that captures the essence of who we are and why we are here.  All these things serve as symbols of the passage of time.

I am looking forward to making more portraits today.  Hope you have a lot to look forward to today too!

<3 Talk Soon <3

Kelly