The Heirloom Portrait I Asked to Inherit
Why a house portrait can outlive everything buried in your camera roll
Your Camera Roll Is Where Memories Go to Disappear
I bet you have thousands of photos in the camera roll on your phone, don’t you?
I certainly do.
And I bet there are at least a couple hundred that you SWORE you were going to get printed and framed.
“One day,” you said to yourself.
But almost all of those special photos ended up lost in the millions of bytes of data on your phone and in the cloud.
Never to be seen again.
A Painting Takes Up Space in Your Life on Purpose
A painting isn’t like that.
It’s impossible for it to get lost in your digital graveyard. A single painting may not weigh much, but it takes up physical space in your world - it demands that you reckon with it.
Photos and Paintings Aren’t Rivals
Don’t get me wrong - photos are GREAT!
This isn’t an either-or, it’s a both-and situation.
After all, the house portraits I create are all based on photographs.
A House Portrait Is a Memory, Not a Record
But looking at a photograph is like looking back at a day in your calendar. It may remind you of some events or things you did, but it doesn’t give you the full context.
Looking at a painting is more like reading an old entry in your journal or diary - it’s a handmade record of your thoughts, your memories, your insights, and all the things that made you who you are.
A painting is a memory.
It edits out the distracting clutter and leaves you with a dreamy wash of feelings.
A house portrait can be a physical manifestation of memory.
Not a record of the square footage, or how much it cost to upkeep, or all the clutter that accumulated in the closets and basement…
But a warm, soft-focus, evocative piece of pure nostalgia.
The Portrait I Asked to Inherit
I have a piece of art hanging on my wall that I look at every day. It speaks to me about my family history and where I came from.
It’s a portrait of my grandfather, drawn before I was even born. It hung in my grandparents’ house for years until my granny passed a few years ago (aged 95!).
It’s the only thing I requested from their estate.
I hope my house portraits have a similar lifespan. That they hang on the walls of my customers’ heirs for years to come…
Bringing them the same kinds of memories and reflections that I have looking at the portrait of my grandfather.
What’s Hanging on Your Walls?
Do you have a piece of art in your house that evokes those kinds of powerful memories and reflections? Let me know in the comments below…
Further Reading
Want to know how you can commission a custom house portrait from me? Check out this post:
