a means of honoring those who have passed on from our lives, preserving their essence through art & story —

Just as salt enhances flavors on our palates, those who we have loved and lost enriched our lives. I believe that we’re a culmination of many things, especially our ancestors, their lived experiences, and the meaning they gave to those experiences.

Traditions and passing on sacred knowledge through spoken word and story is as old as the sands of time.

I also deeply believe that through the power of story, we’re able to keep our loved ones alive and ever-present in our day-t0-day reality.

Whereas Pantera di la Luce, another professional portrait service provided, focuses on celebrating the authentic nature of the client I am working with, Salt of the Earth Portraits works with the client to create a painting of their loved one who they either have or are actively mourning.

The process itself involves meeting once a week for an hour for 3 weeks. (Meetings may be held either in-person or online.) Here, I use my expertise as a therapist to guide you through artistic prompts that include working with commonplace art materials, creative writing exercises or journaling, and, of course, storytelling.

The goal with these exercises is not for you to create a masterpiece or even something aesthetically pleasing, but to utilize artmaking and writing techniques to help me, as the artist, as well as you, the client, get a richer, deeper understanding of the dynamics between you and the person you have loved and are now grieving.

It’s a means of supporting you to more deeply process this transition and help you to feel some semblance of peace despite experiencing the loss of an individual as you have always known them to be.

After learning more about your loved one and your relationship to them over the course of the 3 weeks, I will design and create a hand-painted portrait of the person deceased.

I will work with you to decide upon a suitable past photograph of your loved one for me, as the artist, to recreate and embellish that you feel captures them most accurately, both in appearance and personality.

[Disclaimer: It is not advised that this service alone be a replacement for any established mental health service you, as the client, may be committed to. Although I am a practicing clinical art therapist, I do not believe that the total length of time offered (3 sessions at 60 minutes each) is sufficient to facilitate the grieving process in its entirety. Instead, I encourage this service to serve as an additional resource or to be in conjunction with reoccurring therapy sessions with a mental health professional.]

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