Painting, Performance
Aura Portraits in the Park

(excerpt from Every Day Counts: Reactions and Reflections on Linda Montano)

ART
I placed an advertisement on Craigslist for free aura portraits: Artist seeking sitters to paint their aura portraits. Interested? Meet at Huntington Park, across from Grace Cathedral (California & Taylor). Sunday March 21, 12-5pm. I created the aura portraits through painting, and had conversations with the sitters, all of whom were strangers.

LIFE
I painted these portraits in a park, a public place which allowed for unpredictability. I invited strangers to interact with me by sitting for the portraits and by having conversations about paranormal themes. I set up my watercolors and paper on a bench, and taped a sign to it that read: FREE AURA PORTRAITS. It was a beautiful, sunny day and there were lots of people in the park. I felt very nervous. I closed my eyes and listened to the wind blowing. I felt the sun on my face, and tried to calm myself by simply appreciating the elements around me. I meditated for a few minutes, and surrendered to the fact that I would meet whoever was meant to cross my path that day. I brought paper weights to hold down the work while it dried, and a bottle of water to clean my brushes.

People started sitting almost immediately, and it was a non stop happening for four hours. Afterwards, I was thoroughly exhausted on a physical and emotional level. I asked everyone the same question when they sat down. “Do you think it’s possible to make the invisible visible? Do you think I can paint something that is unseen and unproven?” All ten of the people who sat for me, said “Yes.” This project was an eye opening experience. I was nervous that people would be suspicious of me, and the work. I was concerned that they would view ‘aura portraits’ as a hokey idea. No one gave me the impression that they felt this way. Many wanted to know if I could actually see auras. Many asked me what it meant, after the portrait was done. Some people took my photograph, some offered me chocolate. Some shared stories of paranormal encounters, and others treated the sitting like a therapy session. I was amazed by how open and giving theses strangers were. Perhaps they felt they could tell me these things because they didn’t know me.

I was interested in whether it was possible to have an intimate experience with a stranger, and I found that to be possible and true.