This is Momma Zawati, her name means "gift"...each line on her face speaks of pain turned into wisdom and loss molded into strength. Her journey is a powerful testament to the beauty of resilience—her spirit shines and she is radiant, like gold illuminating in the art form called kintsugi.
The Soul Awakening
Progression of a painting.
Oil on panel
About this artwork:
The Soul Awakening is about a place that you come to where you become enlightened in some unexplainable way. There is a connection between your spirit and a great force that works for the good in your life and imparts a light in your heart and mind that can not be explained in mere words. Each person goes through a dark time in life, the darkness can engulf you like being sucked into a black hole, but in the midst of the darkness comes a place of growth where your soul is awakened by light. This light could seem very small like a faraway star but nevertheless the light illuminates the darkness around you and brings hope for a brighter tomorrow.
A gift from the heart
I was contacted about creating a very special Christmas gift from Angela to her boyfriend. This famous New Orleans store is on Canal Street, Rubensteins. Canal street has been a hub for shops and markets for over a hundred years. Angel’s boyfriend buys his suits there, as his father did and his grandfather. It’s now a family tradition.
This was a very customized painting, adding in his porsche, a street car & many Christmas decorations.
Progression shown of custom oil painting.
The Story behind the Arceneaux Portrait
Mr Arceneaux contacted me about createing a portrait for his wife (a surprise Christmas present).
He sent family pictures for me to work from, however I needed to add another person, his father-in-law. His wife lost her father last year, his passing broke her heart. A photo of him dancing with her at their wedding would suffice for this project.
Their little boy needed some adjusting...
liked his face here:
& his pose here:
For her dad, I would have to find someone to pose for some photos so I could create a new body of him for the portrait. My husband was the model. (He's a model husband.)
A rough draft was sent for approval & critiquing:
Two different photos were used to create the background. Well, that's the beginning of the story. The end of the story has not arrived as of yet.
PS. The drawing & underpainting was completed by Christmas, to give as a gift.
The first photo really did show enough of the Mom's likeness because her head was tilted downward...another photo was used to replace her head.
Here's a short video showing the whole progression of the painting:
Eagle Progression
This shows a short time lapse video of the progression of painting.