KARIN MERX FINE ART | Painting Portraits As A Story

“Today, 1 September 2024, is my fiftieth birthday , and I turn my head to gaze at Karin Merx’s powerfully poignant portrait of my late-husband Mark Chelvan-Stanmore (6/10/63 to 13/3/24) and myself knowing all those who have viewed “Eternal Love” share words of joy, radiating a warmth reflecting our visible and loving 22-year life journey as soulmates, intertwined as life-long partners from their first dance in Heaven in 2001,to the two hearts Mark WhatsApp’d to Chelvan in March 2024, a few minutes before he went off-line. Karin having known me since our involvement in UK Black Pride in 2019, was very aware of the visual activist characteristic of the Refugee LGBTQ+ Barrister (Advocat) built a knowledge of the texture of Mark’s character, and literally got under age over his skin to such a level I can raise my hand to the painting and gently cusp his portrait face to mine - truly a trait of a portrait artist found in a small number of artists. Over the months covering composition of the portrait engaged with each brushstroke magically captures the beauty , kindness and laughter enveloping us as two lovers, best friends and soulmates. Originally planned as part of a “Love is Love” gallery exhibition with Mark’s knowledge and full consent, the piece took on its own purpose to capture the immortality of the love between us, a temporal passage symbolised in the peacock feather in Hinduism, defying repeated in the spectrum of colours with deep purples, crimsons, the background blue and the green frame around the canvas. Now hanging in our bedroom over our bed, Karin’s portrait captures an emotional precipice few artists are able to reach, whilst Love is Love, Karin Marx renders as if it were a historical testament that Our Love Is Eternal, surrounding and loving, the “Eternal Love”.

“What a wonderful journey it's been having Karin paint a portrait of someone very dear to me. The final result is a beautiful testament to her creative process and skills. She's listened carefully and involved me throughout, and has captured perfectly everything I love about the person in this gorgeous portrait. I would never ever have thought about commissioning a portrait but, having met Karin and seen her work, I knew without a doubt that I could trust her to handle something this personal. I'm so glad I did! Thank you Karin :-)”

Very honoured to be included in this book (Black Queer role Models: Painting For Unity)! Karin’s creativity is inspirational and to bring this to life with the wonderful poems by Anneka Chambers is truly a work of art!

I just wanted to share a quick note and let you know that the piece you painted for me was really outstanding. It is a wonderful work of art that will take pride of place in my home. Keep up all the fabulous work that you do.

We absolutely love our kitten painting. It looks just like him and a memory we can treasure forever. Thank you Karin 😊 💓 🙏🏽

Stories create magic!! They are powerful accounts of love, grief and resilience. Thank you Karin for enabling me to tell my own. Working with you was wonderful. And seeing my book evolve from a magical conversation 2 years ago at Stonewall Head Quarters to this beautiful work of art is simply incredible. The process was so cathartic.

The work of Karin M. has given me a new understanding of Art and the vast abilities of Artist. To take my words, my story and shape it into written and typography Art bound in a book is awesomely amazing. Now I have a book about me, for me, shaped with my words by this Artist Karin M. Thank you so much 💓

I love how you are changing perceptions through art, and showing so much love, gratitude and hope through your work.

I never saw a picture of my brother. When I saw Karin's portrait my heart skipped a beat. There he was! Thank you, Karin, for creating this very special piece of art!