Category: Portrait

Jinous Mahmoudi

Oil, Painting, Portrait

Jinous Mahmoudi

I was reading an article in the e*lix*ir online magazine and learned about an Irianian artist Shahriar Cyrus. His painting “Twenty-Fifth of December 1981” is a portrait of seven of the eight Bahá’ís, members of the Iranian National Spiritual Assembly, who were executed without trial on that date. Read the full article here: https://www.elixir-journal.org/issue15/ShahriarCyrusInterview.php . The missing 8th member who was not in the painting was a woman Jinous Mahmoudi. She was not in the courtroom photo that Shahriar used as a reference because she was not included in the trial. On their way to the execution platform, one apparently said to the others, “Let’s say goodbye now.” When they started kissing each other, the firing squad didn’t understand what they were doing and they opened fire, killing them all before they even reached the shooting spot.

https://news.bahai.org/story/1076/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdsFrwJb8NM

Capstone

Alla Prima, Oil, Portrait

In July 2023 I completed a capstone project for the Alla Prima Bootcamp course that I am taking with Chelsea Lang. It has really moved my painting practice forward as you will see as I post more paintings. The painting in my previous post was a part of this project. The paintings were presented at the Centennial Museum during the Manitoulin Art Tour of 2023. I enjoyed a diversity of conversations about life and death over that weekend. This collection is five friends and I painted a two more but they were shipped and not available. I have three others on my list to paint and will get to them. While I was painting I prayed for all these souls, and I still do. I ask for assistance from them with this inspiration: “Such a soul provideth, …the pure leaven that leaveneth the world of being, and furnisheth the power through which the arts and wonders of the world are made manifest.” It seems that we still have more work to do and continue to have a connection with this world after we have left our physical existence behind.

Jackie

NEMI Painterspace, Oil, Portrait

Jackie visited Manitoulin Island this summer. She is a special friend of Karen (see Friendship). We hiked and went swimming at Misery Bay Provincial Park. Along the way we stopped at the sweetest self serve take out where there was homemade baking, natural ointments, fresh vegetables and the like. Places like this supply local food and you put the money in a can. This requires trustworthiness and we have a chance to burnish this gem of the spirit.

“Jackie” NEMI Painterspace #3 Nov 2022

Gary

Oil, Portrait

NEMI Painterspace is is a weekly space where painters gather to hone their practice collectively. This is not class, but a chance to paint with others for mutual support and exchange of ideas. I started attending this small group of dedicated painters mid-Sep. It gives me a chance to get in brush miles and usually complete one painting a week. My last post and this one were created at the NEMI Painterspace.

Gary