Seattle artist paints women's "floral essences," not their likenesses

When Robert Blehert looks at you, he sees a pansy.

Stay seated; it's not a threat. And, in fact, it could be any type of flower. Blehert, 54, is an artist who's been cultivating an unusual specialty: painting "floral essence" portraits of women.

Working from a little studio on Lake Union, Blehert claims that after a few moments in a woman's company, an image of her essence comes to him, and he translates the impressionistic picture into acrylic — often unaware of the type of flower he's created.

"I usually have the idea without any time being involved in it," Blehert explained.

Painting professionally since age 15, Blehert has worked in the style of the Old Masters, with paintings that have ranged from portraits of animals to Pope John Paul II. In recent years, he's achieved a degree of success with sports paintings similar to those of LeRoy Neiman that a few professional teams used for promotional posters.

But he said things began to change for him about three years ago, when he was starting a painting for a friend's birthday present.

"I just got a sudden inspiration to do a painting of flowers that reminded me of her, and it was so exciting for her that I started doing more, and more people heard about it," Blehert said.

Having settled on the label "Flowers of You" and often finishing a piece in minutes, Blehert's floral-essence portraits typically range from $95 for an 8-by-10-inch canvas to $890 for a 30-by-40-inch canvas.

" 'Flowers Of You' excites me more than anything else I do because it's so intuitive," he said.

A skeptic might note, at the very least, that claiming to divine a woman's "floral essence" isn't exactly verifiable by any type of method, scientific or otherwise — if that floral essence isn't her perfume — and it's likely an arbitrary thing he makes up on the spot. Or that anything pretty and flattering might appeal to a customer's vanity. But Blehert's got his true-believer patrons.

Art collector Margaret Fitzpatrick, of West Seattle, visited Blehert's studio after she bought a nonfloral painting of his through Craigslist.

"He stood there and said, 'You know, I can just see what you would look like in a floral essence.' "

But first she commissioned paintings for her two grown daughters, who were pleased with the results. Later, Fitzpatrick, 61, hired Blehert to paint a 60-by-48-inch portrait of her floral essence for a Christmas party. She was stunned by the abstract result, in its blues, reds, oranges and greens, and she said her first thought was, "Oh my God, somebody saw all that in me."

If it's difficult to articulate exactly why the colorful mass represents her specifically, Fitzpatrick is still convinced: "It's an energy and a vibration that I relate to very personally. There's fire and there's love," she said. "In my painting, I see my soul. It looks like what I think it should look like."

In fact, she thinks Blehert is psychic.

Blehert said, "The word 'psychic' sounds kind of funny. But I think I am capturing something of the person in a way that definitely goes beyond the physical."

Standing by a large portrait of Ken Griffey Jr. in his studio, Blehert was asked what sort of flower the Seattle Mariners star would be.

"Ohhh ... that's a good question," he said, frozen momentarily in thought.

If that becomes another subspecialty of Blehert's, coming up with the right flower for NFL quarterback-turned-dogfighter-turned-inmate Michael Vick might make for an especially challenging commission.

Mark Rahner: 206-464-8259 or mrahner@seattletimes.com