Portrait by Jo Jayson

Art & words by Jo Jayson 

The other week I posted a video of me painting the beginning of a special portrait commission. Today I am posting the finished portrait, completed on Valentines Day. This is Sydney, she was 21 when she was tragically killed by a drunk driver on Christmas Eve 2016. Her beloved Step Father Ken Bell came to me in October to ask if I would paint their daughter as a heartfelt gift for her mother Marcy Stone.  It of course was humbling to have been asked and chosen, but the true humbleness came when I embarked on the painting. Technically it was incredibly difficult given that I only had a very small photo that couldn’t be enlarged and the angle of the face to the camera gave a lot of difficult foreshortening. But this time I was pushed to tap into Sydney’s beautiful energy more than I was tasked to paint from a photograph. It wasn’t a new experience to do this for me but it was the first time I had painted a soul that had passed so soon. What I discovered in the energy of what came through into the painting, was a joy and a delight that felt so sweet and pure.
This is Sydney, in her Mothers words,
“Sydney was (and is) a force to be reckoned with yet with a laid back, unconditionally loving whimsical spirit. She had the passion of a purist and the patience of a beautiful old soul. She loved life, sought out truth and had a love and devotion for her family and friends that surpassed any needs of her own. She adored her big sister, she was my best friend/side kick and my husband was her partner in crime and to look into her beautiful blue eyes is to see her truth and all she stood for and believed in.”
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