When Victoria accepts a portrait commission she delicately leads the subject through the personal journey knowing full well what an intimate experience it is for both painter and subject. Victoria paints her subjects before plain backgrounds, eliciting emotion from them in an instant or she’ll reveal her subjects posed in the landscape of their region or portray the comforts of their home. Her interest is in the unguarded moment of the inner life as it relates to a person’s outer image. It is the subject’s essence she wants to capture and release onto the canvas, creating a fine piece of art.  This is where portraiture can, and should, and does transcend photography. The portraits all have a remarkable physical likeness. Often times viewers remark the image on canvas appears to be breathing!

Victoria states, “My paintings are based on observation, largely of the person within and responding to their environment. I’ve become very intuitive.”

Victoria’s view on a recent portrait:

“The first time I met Father Tom he looked up at me with the trust and love of a family member. I knew that this was a man I wanted to paint.

How do you paint the portrait of such a man…a man larger than life? A man of elegance, accomplishments and wit.

When people view the portrait of Father Tom I hope they will soon notice where the light source is coming from. It shines from inside the subject.

What I wanted to capture was Father Tom’s inner life…his calling as a servant… that quiet connection to God that is the source of all his gifts. This painting speaks of his humility in the face of great success…and tragedy in facing his illness with Parkinson’s.

This is his life-journey and I was truly honored and blessed to be a part of it. I have been changed by knowing Father Tom.

For an artist the greatest gift is to communicate, in a visual manner, the spirit of a man.”