After the Shower (Portrait of the Artist’s Sister), Oil on Canvas; © Jennifer Pohl

Call it coincidence or a chance occurrence, but have you ever experienced a moment of synchronicity? It has happened to me more than once.

A few years ago I was suffering a bout of pre-painting anxiety (not unlike writer’s block), and was doing just about everything to procrastinate my return to the easel. I paced about in my overalls, picked up brushes, twirled them about, and put them down. I had a snack, flipped through art books, then had another painting snack. Eventually (and keeping in mind I hadn’t owned or watched television for almost a decade previously) I picked up the remote control, and started rapidly flicking through channels. For some reason, I stopped at the Canadian Parlimentary Channel for what was the very first time in my life. A gentleman was being interviewed, and I paused to listen. He was a scientist of some kind. Don’t ask me what he was talking about now, I forget. My gaze drifted to the artwork on the wall. I looked closer, and sure enough, he was seated in a gallery with two of my paintings directly behind him, and one of them was this portrait of my sister.

To make a long (but true) story short, I put the remote down and went back to work. When I mentioned it to Doug later that day he remarked, “Well, if you believe in signs, that would be one!”

A more detailed view of this piece will soon be seen in my upcoming online gallery.