Beautiful portrait!

Beautifull portrait. Like the soft expression

Excellent work

Beautiful portrait,Like that Backdrop!!

great character portrait!

Very nice!!

Lovely portrait Terry, like the pose.

Very interesting gothic portrait.

Dear Terry; No words ... just amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bravo !!!!!!!!!!!!

Lovely Image

Excellent

very pretty

Wonder how Pamela would feel living in big American and European cities a 100 years later? Probably not that much different really. This image has a refreshing splash of happiness about it. There is strong contrast between the dark background and her pale skin and again with her skin and lips.

Sublime light in this awesome gothic portrait! The eyes tell a story!

Beautiful work--enjoy the pastel framing as it were--the gorgeous purples highlighting the eyes... very lovely.

WOW....Amazing portrait, a truly fantastic work!

This image is gorgeous! I love those eyes! ;D The words seem sad as someone who has given up... In the image she looks as if she has just found those words - just discovered that she's alone... Very sad... :{ Until...

Fantastic portrait Terry Love the lighting and shadow in this.. Excellent!!

Thank you, Everyone, for your warm embrace and appreciation of this work! It is a re-interpretation of an elder portrait which remains dear to me and wished to make a curtain call within this season. For those interested, Pamela Colman Smith is most widely known today as the illustrator of the Waite Tarot.  Most commonly referred to as the Rider-Waite Tarot, (Rider as publisher with Waite as designer) it is more appropriately the Waite-Colman Tarot as it is Pamela's endearing illustrations which make the Tarot symbol library so approachable. Roxy: "Wonder how Pamela would feel living in big American and European cities a 100 years later?" I imagine even more out of her time and place.  This verse reflects a sense found in other writings of feeling alone with the touchstones of her heart.  Pamela's yearnings were for customs of an earlier more graceful age.  This sentiment decorated her art and was a quality which Arthur Waite found very appealing when seeking an illustrator for his Tarot. "This image has a refreshing splash of happiness about it." Yes. This is it's intent. I suppose it must be that ol' 'Don't be afraid of the shadows' motif shining through.  ;-) Marco: "Sublime light in this awesome gothic portrait!" Thank you, Marco!  This is a significant recognition as the illumination was the greater portion of labor in this work. Alicia: "...the gorgeous purples highlighting the eyes..."  :-)   I never have met a person who did not like purple. Lorie: "The words seem sad as someone who has given up..." I don't believe she intended them in this manner.  It is not, at least, how they approach my own senses. There is a quiet, slightly overgrown, pathway through life where one can walk alone and yet not be lonely.  This path, without doubt, passes through the traditional Gothic genre of expression.  Sad?...  Yes, it can be so at times but not in a depressive sense. To be aware and sensitive to the world around us is a state of being that will inevitably stir emotions of sadness and melancholy from time to time.  How could it not be so when all that we love fades and passes from the world?  Loss hurts.  & Being alone with our finest memories and yearnings is an acute sorrow. Long before the definition of Gothic expanded to include Vampires and other denizens of the night there was a singular dominant characteristic to literary and visual arts of this genre.  "Gothic" works of the Nineteenth century, while sometimes including elements of horror, were always ripe with an atmosphere of longing for a past that existed in deep shadows at the edges of collective memory. Gothic literature is intimately intertwined with the revival of Gothic Architecture as this is where the description derives from.  This is a curiously amusing twist as the Gothic revival itself was inspired by a novel: Victor Hugo's Notre dame de Paris, known in English as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It is also worth noting that the architecture of Europe which is labeled Gothic is not only wrongly attributed, its original application was intended as an insult.  When the artists and builders of the Renaissance were looking back towards the Classic eras or Greece and Rome for inspiration the great cathedrals of Europe were blocking their view. Seen as "crude", "grotesque" and "barbaric" the structures of the Medieval period were degradingly attributed to works of the Goths who were seen as the destroyers of an idealized Rome.  It did not matter that the Goths had left the stage of history centuries before; the label stuck, although, over time its negative association faded from memory. The wheel of fortune and public taste are ever turning and by the early Nineteenth century the Neoclassical fell from fashion.  Gothic literature arose, and like the great cathedrals, it was shrouded in atmosphere and celebrated grand gesture, bold drama and fantastical expression intended to awe the senses.  Appearing again and again was a theme of longing and natural sorrow for the fate of all things dear to the human heart and forever subject to decay, ruin and obliteration. There is no true "Gothic" without this quality. "So ..." you say, "according to you, vampires are not Gothic then?" ;-)  No ... I am not saying that.  Have you ever met an immortal?  Many people dream of living "forever".  What do you suppose it might be like to live for centuries instead of decades? One of the most poignant aspects of Anne Rice's characters is their grief.  In Rice's words:  "Interview with the Vampire... is about the near despair of an alienated being who searches the world for some hope that his existence can have meaning.  It is an expression of grief for a lost religious heritage that seemed at that time beyond recovery.  I felt that the vampire was the perfect metaphor for the outcast in all of us, the alienated one in all of us." The "curse" of a well crafted vampire is not the lust for blood but the tormenting affliction of any solitary immortal being; the fate of bearing witness to the fading and loss of what is most beloved.  Over great passages of time it is only natural that a world weariness sets into the senses and lends a shadowy yet warm tint to all that is perceived.  Scroll back up and re-read Pamela's verse in this context.  It seems to me these words possess a great degree of the universal creative spirit to them.   But then again, what do I know!?  I just sweet up the floors after closing in this wee little gallery.    ;-) Terry

I had a few questions and remarks about this work, but there all addressed already. So suffice it to say I think this is one of your best Terry. And thank you for illuminating the term "Gothic", always glad to learn from someone who knows what they're talking about.

So wonderful and nice portrait, great work Terry!!!Wonderful poem!!!

here the one can really see the mirrored soul in the eyes.a marvellous creation.5++.

Fantastic portrait and mood! Make me think about that song from L. Richie "I can see it in your eyes, I can see it on your smile,....a.s.o." ......! Was it from L.R.? I'm not sure. Have a nice day/evening, hug’s Ute

"One of the most poignant aspects of Anne Rice's characters is their grief. In Rice's words: "Interview with the Vampire... is about the near despair of an alienated being who searches the world for some hope that his existence can have meaning." Dammit Terry - you've got me thinking again! Sweet portrait. The pale skin, and the merest hint of colour on her cheeks, goes very well with those eyes.

Amazing!!!!!

Wow, this is one of the most evocative portraits I have seen in some time. Fantastic work! :D

Breathtakingly beautiful portrait Terry, superb lighting....love it.

Excellent!!!

Excellent image. Thanks for your explaination of Gothis. The Rider Waite Tarot cards I use often and understand what you are saying. Well done.

Another beauty. Dark but alluring.