George Alphonso Walker

Portraits

Painting Portraits is one of the simple pleasures of being an Artist. I arrive at this conclusion because of the fact that for one brief solitary moment, an artist has privy to look deep into a person soul. The artist ability to capture this aspect of the human essence, or the human spirit, is a sacred and intimate occurrence. Every face has its own story to tell. It can conceal a vast ranger of emotion that is stored beneath the surface; all the Artist has to do is to excavate the man made layers of self-preservation in order to get to the pure essence of the individual. It is Humanity in all its developments. It has as a story to tell, that is very vibrant, colorful, and rich with its history hidden deep within the surface. This human experience is Life. This life can be the by products of sorrow, laughter, joy, fear, love, birth, and death.

Every face has a spark from of our creator that is imprinted in every cell of our body, which will always connect us to the original source. This spark is called our soul. It is our Soul that connects us to our creator.” The eyes are the windows too the soul”. This statement has been about since the dawn of civilization. It is sometime said that some people has the eyes of an old soul. The best statement that I have ever heard, “To love another person is to see the face of God.”- Excerpt from Les Mis. The Broadway musical. - All these statement are profound in and of them self, but as a compound sentence they are awesome in their direction and their power. This power is evident in the face of all humanity.

Any Artist, who attempts Portraits, is in essence looking for the spark of divine within the individual that the Artist is painting. The Artist is trying to capture a feeling, a mood, and a nuisance that breaths life into the portrait that is being painted. This can be a very dangerous journey, as it can be illusive and unapparent without proper understanding, or a knowledge of pealing back the layers of a persons defense mechanism, but this must be achieved if the Artist desires to represents the illusive essence of human spirit. It requires careful observation, and the sheer determination to represent the subject with conviction and accuracy.

With all that being said, the following statement is true for myself. When I am attempting to do any Portraits, It matters not, if it a model or a commission piece. I first strip away the personality, the complexes, the neurosis, and the ego from the individual; I get right down the bare essence of the individual soul. The soul level is a place within one body where there is no shame, guilt, remorse, sadness, vanity and no illusions, just unadulterated energy as to whom that person is. I have developed a series of psychological disarmament that peels away every layer that can be conceived by any individual. My technique is un-intrusive, and I have been known to put the most feared or respected person at ease.

By developing this technique very early on in my Artist career, I have found that this method yields the best rest result in getting to the heart of the person. It is then, and only then am I allowed to have a rare glimpse of their true Soul. The out come is always with out flaw. It is perfect.
I have once or twice in my short life, have stumbled on a few individuals that their soul is so fractured or so strangled by their own ego, that I was left with no other option by to decline their offer of a portrait. I would turn down their commission.


I am diplomatic enough to say that I am not the right Artist for the Job. I know however, that I cannot paint what I do not see. I cannot personify vanity and ones own superiority complex, this is not the way of the soul. If I were to do this, I would be going against my own values and my own sacred code and vow that I had made to Our Creator, or the Law of One.

While our world that we live in today has been blessed with beautiful faces. I can admire the beauty, or the hallmark of perfection. However, I do prefer to see a beautiful face with an awakened, loving, and pure Heart and soul.

Portraits are very difficult, but the rewards are unbelievable wonderful in all it glory, and is simplistic in it subtleties, and awesome in all it power.