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

Progression of painting

This shows a short time lapse video of the progression of painting.