Portal Paintings

What are Portal Paintings? For me, the portal has a double meaning. It is a reference to that liminal space between the here and now and someday/elsewhere, the space between waking and dreaming, the space between being lost and being found.

The portal is also a metaphor for the gateway to creation as an artist. I think that our modern lives and devices can easily prevent us from passing through the portal, on which the other side lies your creative act. The artist must pass through this portal with both feet, to get into the open space on the other side of the looking glass, where all great art is made. She must leave behind her tethers to email and to-do lists and venture into the lovely lonely unknown where there is nothingness until you fill it with exquisite somethingness.

Portal paintings are about these passageways, while they are also art that is small enough to pass through the portal with you. The paintings themselves have a double meaning and a double purpose.

My hope is that you will collect these portal paintings as a reminder to pass through to the landscape where you know less and discover more. And I hope you place these portal paintings in secret hideaways, on the dash of your car, in the medicine cabinet, in the drawer of your bedside table, tucked in a favorite book, in your dressing closet, next to your gemstones and talismans. These paintings will never be the focal point, they weren’t meant to be. They are meant to be your secret companion, your covert artifact… art fit for passage, for journeys, for transitions.

I myself have been on a grand journey, a profound transition. The transition into motherhood, the adventure of living abroad, and the challenge of how my new life poses obstacles to creation. I created the portal paintings concept as a way to allow my own self “passage”. So that I may arrive at my destination with my artist self intact. I invite you to witness the journey. I started the portal paintings during my maternity leave, albeit sporadically, and found momentum upon moving to London. I continued upon my return to the swampy south, and I hope to continue the concept well through each trip going forward. The portal is wherever I go, the art is always there waiting to be made.

Missed past portals? New Portal Paintings will launch October 19, 2023 at 10 am CDT. Click the link below to bookmark the Shop and purchase.