I am a portrait artist
I used to say
I hated painting landscapes
I hated painting landscapes
It felt
redundant
Boring
All that foliage
So much green
It seems like
so many
landscapes have already been done
The only place
in the scene
that fascinated me
that fascinated me
was the horizon
Maybe because it
led me to the sky
Which I would
like to think
I could look at
for hours
Day or night
Feels like an
out of body experience
Like if you look
up far enough
you lose the
land
and all sense of
where you stand
The place you
inhabit
The problems
that surround you
The tasks at hand
Like if you look
up far enough
you can lose
yourself
Just fall right
up into the open space
So I painted a
few skyscapes
Transforming
clouds floating
over ombres of
hue
They felt like
escape
I am still a
portrait artist
But I see so
much more
than I did
before
The planes of a
face
look just like a
landscape
Rolling hills of
cheekbones
Peeks of eyebrow
ridges
Everyones eyes
are a magnificent skyscape
transforming
clouds floating
over ombres of
hue
Some irises wake
you
with the green
of the sun
hitting spring
grass in the morning
Some are elusive
and patient
like silvery fog
that snakes
after the rain
over steely
glass water
There is
electric midday blue
that shocks you
like lightening in your veins
like lightening in your veins
There is deep
midnight black
where you cant
find your way in
or back out
again
And some escape the
day
through soft brown warmth blanketing your tired mind
orange and gold undertones
Burning wisps
slipping below the horizon line
I am a portrait
artist
Who is still
learning
Who begins again
Everyday
For every day we
change
Do we ever really
know what another looks like
To find a
likeness
is to care fully look
is to care for
someone
I must learn
how to care
It is a practice
I look at the
outside
to find my way
in
What stories rise
to the surface
and hold up our skin
What storms
What carnival
rides
What calm
What peace
What vast
expanses of indigo
What jostling
terrain of vertigo
What restless
desire for escape
A portrait is
just an internal landscape
An inscape
And inscapes
are anything
but boring
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