"Intimacy" Original Painting

Details: 16" x 20" original mixed media (acrylic and oil) painting on 0.5" thick canvas. Varnished with a satin finish. Comes ready to hang, with 40lb wiring.

There is a quote that echoes in my mind almost daily: “When I look into the eyes of an animal, I do not see an animal. I see a living being. I see a friend. I feel a soul” (Anthony Douglas Williams). The sentiment behind this phrase is what drove me to create this painting. I wanted to capture the experience of communion with an animal – the feeling of a deep and timeless bond that miraculously transcends delineations of “species”. Many people speak to experiences of an intuitive, kin-like connection with the natural world; a sense of deeply understanding, and feeling deeply understood by, the hearts of animals, plants, or land. Testimonies like these highlight the fact that intimacy – a close familiarity or friendship – is an experience that exists not only through language, logic, lineage or any other classification that narrowly defines “humanity”, but rather throughout the entire, tightly-woven tapestry that is “life”.

*Please note that there may be slight variations in colour between the original painting and the digital images, as all screens calibrate colour differently.*