In the fall of 2013 I found myself jobless and without a plan.
I had just graduated from university a few months prior and had immediately set out for the Czech Republic to be a summer Au Pair. By the end of summer though, I had no plans and almost as little money, and so I did the responsible thing (sarcasm intended) and went to the UK. My family was currently on an expatriate assignment in the quaint northern English town of Harrogate, which sounded like a much more pleasant place to be than job hunting back in Arkansas.
What started out as a quick “few week” visit eventually extended to a five month break between university and joining the “real world” of working professionalism.
As anyone who’s ever looked at a photo of the United Kingdom knows, this country has no shortage of beautiful estates and castles, beautifully decorated on both the inside and the out.
One of my favorite parts of these old estates were the antique portraits, hung in centuries-old gilt frames, lining luxuriously silk-wallpapered hallways. These oil paintings were hardly ever just a frame comprising the subject and a plain background, but were filled with personality and elegance.
Whether holding a musical instrument or resting their hands on a beautiful gilt book, the painting showed what kind of person was staring at you from behind the layers of rich oil paints.
I began to imagine what these portraits would look like, if they were of my siblings and myself. I started to wonder what made each of us unique in our own way, and how I could represent that in a portrait.
In the end, some of them included much more styling than others, as I was able to expand on my ideas and improve the portraits the further into the project I got. Although some are simpler than others, I love them all the same, because of the glimpse each portrait provides of who my siblings and I were in that moment of time.
My oldest sister was not living with us at the time, but she happened to be visiting just as the idea for this series first started formulating. In a way, she became my test subject for this new series, as her portrait was my first attempt.The journal in my sister’s lap represents her love of writing, while the color of her dress was adjusted in post-processing to match the color of her beautiful green eyes. Did you know that only 2% of the world has green eyes?
In this portrait of myself, there are three things of note: a globe, which represents my undergraduate degree in International Relations, a book, showing my love of reading, and a pearl necklace, which, as the birthstone of the month of June, represents my summer birthday.
My younger sister is currently a pre-med student, so I wanted a skull in the background. Luckily, we took this photo right around Halloween, and so I was able to pull one of my mom’s decorations into the set. As for the rose in her hand, McKenna takes her middle name from our Great-Grandmother Rose, and so I knew I needed to include this in the portrait as well.
Rather than having my brother wear just a regular suit, I decided it would be more meaningful to dress him in his school uniform. He may not have liked it at the time, but I think one day he will look back and think he looked pretty sharp in his Ashville College sport coat. Our family dog, Eva, is included in the portrait as well. It was not a rare thing to find the two of them lounging completely stretched out across the entire living room floor together after a long school day.
This portrait of my youngest sister is rather simple, and yet it is my favorite in the series. My youngest sister has always been an extraordinary model, because she brings a wonderful set of emotions and potency to every piece we work together on. It is no wonder, then, that she did so well in a portrait where she could be entirely herself. Holding a vintage mirror we found at a local charity shop and wearing a cameo given to her by our mother for Christmas one year, her personality shines through in a wonderful way.
While this series is a rather small one (comprising just five portraits), it will always be one of my favorites.Years from now I know my family will all look back at these portraits and not just say “Oh, look how cute she was!”, but we will also really remember who we were.
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