Series:

Nicole 1964-

“The reason I needed this painting is that it validates who I am, was, and always have been. In the collage you did of me, my young girl artwork sits on an ocean of red and pink waves, with a portrait you made of me surrounded by all my favorite stuffed animals. It captures me at a unique moment and yet that moment is now eternal and still relevant. I am a person who experiences the trees talking and smiling and has a relationship with angels, and a pervasive sense of wonder and Holiness is always with me. These are not easy things to capture or show about a person.” — Nicole Barchilon Frank

My challenge as an artist in the fleeting moments of a life drawing sitting is to capture essence. My challenge as a mother is to see my daughter and help her grow into herself. My ever-watchful eye recorded Nicole’s life from infancy through teenage years and into her own motherhood. Yet that watchful eye could also be an anxious and worrisome eye, in need of creative transformation. I did not want either Nicole or Paul to grow up in the shadow of my fear. As a painter, I drenched my children in color and sang out the joy of our connection–the strong color, like a strong heartbeat, ensures life force and vigor.

We are told that “time heals,” yet I know that generations carry the loss of a child. As a family, none of us has let loss be the last word.

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