City Lights Collection Inspiration
Until moving to Charlotte, I always lived “just outside” a city in the suburbs. I’ve lived close to Pittsburgh, NYC, and Washington DC. Close enough that my parents could work in the city, but not actually live in the city. There was something captivating about the times my parents would take me into the city. It was usually for an event – a theater show, a baseball game, or maybe fireworks. That’s probably why I came to associate the city with excitement. I loved the bustle. I remember staying in a hotel in downtown LA when I was about 12. My parents were discontent because it was so noisy and the light coming through the window at night was so bright, but I wanted to keep the blinds open all night long. The liveliness was mesmerizing to me. I decided at a young age that I needed to live in a city, because I didn’t feel truly alive anywhere else.
I have a vague memory of driving home from the downtown Pittsburgh as a child. I was probably around 5, and I have no idea why we were in the city. I remember it was late, and I didn’t want to leave. Like 5-year-olds do, I began crying in the car, willing my parents to stay. Being good parents, they weren’t going to let us stay in the city all night long. I continued crying until my eyes were full of tears, and then something magical happened. I looked out the window and all the city lights were blurring together and rushing by me. It reminded me of fairy dust and fireworks. I was instantly pleased but I tried to continue to cry just so I could see the beautiful sight out of the window as we drove home. The City Lights Collection is inspired by this feeling of the city lights engulfing me.
I’ve also always been intrigued by eyes, hands, and expressions. I’m drawn to painting these because I feel like they are a direct connection from the painting to the viewer. The City Lights Collection combines my love of people and my love of the city. It is inspired by the emotional connection to the viewer through the portrait, and also the blurry city lights that feel like they’re swirling around you as you walk through the city at night. My goal is to make you stop and feel the atmosphere of the city, to be there with the subject. It’s that feeling where you feel like you’re in a movie. The setting is right and you can almost hear the soundtrack playing in the background. Your emotions connect to the city, to its pulse. It’s bigger than you, but you also matter to it.
Look around at the collection. Pause and imagine what the subject might be feeling and thinking. Put yourself in their place and imagine what the city might feel like around them. What are the sounds? What do they hear? What is the weather? Create the scene for yourself, and enter into the painting.
