Eyes as Emotional Portals
When I paint or design a portrait, the eyes never function as simple features. They become entrances—thresholds where the viewer crosses into an inner world. In my work, the eyes often appear enlarged, patterned, or glowing, creating the feeling that they are more than organs of sight. They act as portals that reveal emotional currents, hidden vulnerability, or intuitive power. Instead of offering clarity, they invite contemplation, allowing the viewer to feel seen and drawn inward at the same time. This sense of mutual witnessing creates a symbolic exchange, turning the portrait into a shared emotional space.
Colour as Spellwork
Colour in my portraits behaves like active magic. Rather than decorating surfaces, it shapes emotional resonance. Reds burn from within like embers, suggesting internal fire or transformation. Blues soften into lunar quiet, offering reflective calm. Violets and pinks feel like whispered enchantments, subtle but persuasive. I approach colour as spellcasting, each hue acting as an emotional catalyst. The palette becomes incantatory, guiding intuition and shaping mood through subtle chromatic shifts. The result feels like a visual spell unfolding slowly on the wall.
Suspiria’s Chromatic Influence
Suspiria’s intense colour logic has deeply informed how I approach atmosphere. The film uses saturated tones as emotional triggers, not just stylistic choices. That approach resonates with my own desire to let colour communicate ritual and intuitive states. When I apply glowing reds, velvety blacks or ethereal purples, I am echoing that cinematic language while grounding it in symbolic portraiture. The palette becomes both aesthetic and emotional, turning the artwork into a quiet ritual of perception.
Botanical Forms as Hidden Narratives
Botanical elements often emerge around or within the facial structure, acting as subtle storytellers. A petal shaped like a tooth, a root curling toward the gaze, or a seed glowing beneath the surface introduces symbolic tension. These motifs suggest growth, protection, or transformation without literal depiction. They function like visual clues, hinting at emotional cycles or inner metamorphosis. Their presence ties the portrait to folklore traditions where plants carried magical or protective meaning, reinforcing the idea that the figure is more than human representation.
Texture as Liminal Veil
Grain, haze, and atmospheric softness create the sensation of looking through a veil. This texture blurs the boundaries between viewer and subject, evoking a dreamlike state. It recalls the feeling of perception shifting, as if the portrait exists between waking and dreaming. Soft noise introduces mystery while smooth glowing areas invite closeness. Texture becomes the liminal threshold where the unseen becomes felt, reinforcing the portal-like quality of the eyes and the incantatory effect of colour.
Light as Inner Presence
Inner glow plays an essential role in my portraiture. Instead of external illumination, the light appears to originate from within the figure, suggesting emotional or intuitive radiance. This inward luminosity shifts the narrative from passive depiction to active presence. The figure holds power rather than reflecting it, aligning with a modern interpretation of autonomy and inner knowledge. Light becomes symbolic of internal truth, echoing ritual iconography while maintaining contemporary subtlety.
Soft Horror as Emotional Charge
The tension in my portraits rarely comes from explicit imagery. Instead, it arises from subtle distortion—a floral opening resembling a mouth, a gaze that feels too knowing, a colour that pulses like hidden heat. This soft horror creates emotional charge without violence. The viewer senses complexity beneath beauty, experiencing intrigue rather than fear. The portrait becomes a space where shadow and softness coexist, offering psychological depth without aggression.
Why This Approach Resonates
I continue to explore eyes as portals and colours as spells because they allow portraiture to transcend representation. They create emotional and symbolic depth, giving the viewer an active role in interpretation. The Suspiria-inspired aesthetic provides a language where beauty, mystery, and quiet power intertwine. On the wall, these portraits become companions in introspection, holding space for transformation, intuition, and subtle enchantment.
