Portrait

What would you have the painter put into paintings of you - apart from your loved ones - and why?

I found my way to Isabelle, who asked this question. And I love the idea, having seen so many portraits from all over the world, through the ages. Having posed as an art model, when younger and more tolerant of pain. And I think about why people choose what they chose to be near, to be seen holding, for all time. Not what the usual meaning is, why they wanted it. A friend mentioned seeing LA Ink, and a guy who wanted a tattoo of cheese, because he couldn't eat it anymore, and wanted to memorialize it.

I would, of course, have a black cat. Cats have to be earned, the good ones do anyway. They take time to trust and bestow affection, in their own time. Black ones are associated with many societal ideas that have nothing to do with who they are, aside from being smart. And they are beautiful in ways that are difficult to record or convey.

I would have bare feet, because that is my base, damaged and vulnerable and callused all together.

I would have a silver ring on my finger, an Army green blanket in the background, wear a dull red shirt and grubby faded jeans, to represent, in order, D's love, my military service, my OR experience, and my sense of working at anything needful. Perhaps a mac laptop peeking out from under a hand, no, under the cat, for my writing, photography, and my blogistan community.