It is so realistic but you can see that its painted amazing!!
Greatz tobias

A battle between reality and lie,

optical fidelity and expressive desire.

--
Paint the Truth.

I've just been looking through you gallery, and I must say that these are wonderful. Brilliantly skillful, so wonderfully textured and with such a story behind them!

In a way, it reminds me of an art exhibition we had here (in Perth, Western Australia) called 'Raised By Wolves', which left me with a chilling feeling of lonliness and sadness, and yet some extra element of feeling that I can't quite describe.

I've noticed that a lot of your portraits seem to have especially detailed and clear eyes, in contrast with the rest of them (as seen in this girl) - was this intentional on your part, or did it just emerge in the process?

All that aside, stunning paintings and I think it's a really inspired and deep project you've set out on here.

--
_{One man's meat is another man's poison.}

All of these missing child portraits are painted from the photos on mailers or fliers asking for help locating the children. The photos are monochrome, and about an inch (2 centimeters ) high.

I place the canvas before me, and HOLD the flier in my left hand. in my right, I hold my palette knife.

Some portraits unfold after a few hours . They emerge directly, boldly.

Most go quite astray, or evolve with much more
complexity. When the portraits go this road, I must be patient...

In these cases, the portraits take thirty or forty sessions of applying, scraping, rebuilding, wiping, and redrawing,
( all with my palette knife or a stick.) I set them up in my studio, and observe them throughout the week, or weeks, until they seem "right."

Sometimes that "rightness" means "structurally" sound, with solid planes, correct spacial drawing, and all of the requirements a proper drawing may hinge upon...

But hete is the thing,the thing that fascinates and confounds me:

very often, it is the unresolved tension, the shimmering edges, the seemingly unexplainable "wrongness" that creates the portraits strength...

( Elsewise I would be proficiently griding or projecting these images and calmly shading them to my heart's desire.

No. That would not reflect the complexity and situation of each child.

Along the way, this is what I have learned: A person should be painted in such a way that reflects that individual person- their energy, their life, their circumstance. A portrait need not only reflect the way a person appears before our eyes.

That, is the definition of expressionism.
After painting four hundred missing children, each one turning up differently on my easel, I can say that "Painting" is so vast, so varied, so much bigger than me, that it leads me to say that it seems to be a vehicle akin to prayer...

NOT the kind of prayer wet each children to mumble before eating their supper. I mean the prayers we create for ourselves when we are numb with fear, washed over by searing love, or calm, quiet and at peace.

The eyes compel me because they are always blurred or tiny specs in the photos. I lavish them with attention because I know that you, as a viewer will thirst for that... because I thirst for it too. We are all the same. Every country, culture... we thirst for those eyes.

--
Paint the Truth.

Absolutely beautiful. The warm colours make it even more heartbreaking. I love your style.

That's a very moving write up.
Eyes truly are windows to the soul, aren't they?
They can speak volumes about a person and can convey any emotion.

I'm very glad to have seen your gallery. This is an incredible thing that you are doing.

--
"Some people look at what is and ask why. I prefer to dream of what has never been and ask why not."

The thought and compassion you put in these pictures is wonderful. You have a humble heart and I greatly admire your work.

May God help us find and protect them all.

- Spaced

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I'm not an artist, but a writer. My story isn't ready to be up loaded but will be soon!

......

I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. If you do too and aren't scared to admit it, then copy and paste this in your signature.

Shes so pretty, that really hurts me to see children missing all over the place.

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See them as paintings of hope.

--
Paint the Truth.