By Michaela Jean
Painted Frame in Gold Oil Paint
Born from dreams, memory, and imagination, each piece in the Gilded Portals series is a window into a world that doesn’t exist—yet somehow feels familiar.
This collection began with the places I invented as a child: a windswept meadow, a cliffside forest, a secret island. For years I tried to paint these imagined landscapes, but they never quite matched the magic in my mind. With time, study, and the influence of great landscape painters—from the Hudson River School to the Impressionists—I finally found the visual language to bring these worlds to life.
Each Gilded Portal is composed of layered oil paint, built slowly and intentionally, refining light, atmosphere, and brush texture until the scene felt alive. The paintings are surrounded by a hand-painted trompe-l’oeil gilded frame, created with real gold foil and gold oil paint. This motif was inspired by my love of ornate Old Master and Baroque frames—so rather than placing the artwork inside a frame, the frame becomes part of the artwork itself. A true “portal” guiding the eye inward.
These are some of the most labor-intensive and detailed works I’ve ever made. The gold foil alone required immense patience—every edge laid, burnished, and sealed by hand. The landscapes themselves evolved over months, not days, each one a careful blending of memory, imagination, and painterly intuition.
They are dreamscapes, portals, and escapes.
A merging of nature, memory, fantasy, and light.
A place you somehow recognize, even if you’ve never been there.
Each piece comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
Ships in 7–10 business days.
Local pickup available in San Diego.
By Michaela Jean
Painted Frame in Gold Oil Paint
Born from dreams, memory, and imagination, each piece in the Gilded Portals series is a window into a world that doesn’t exist—yet somehow feels familiar.
This collection began with the places I invented as a child: a windswept meadow, a cliffside forest, a secret island. For years I tried to paint these imagined landscapes, but they never quite matched the magic in my mind. With time, study, and the influence of great landscape painters—from the Hudson River School to the Impressionists—I finally found the visual language to bring these worlds to life.
Each Gilded Portal is composed of layered oil paint, built slowly and intentionally, refining light, atmosphere, and brush texture until the scene felt alive. The paintings are surrounded by a hand-painted trompe-l’oeil gilded frame, created with real gold foil and gold oil paint. This motif was inspired by my love of ornate Old Master and Baroque frames—so rather than placing the artwork inside a frame, the frame becomes part of the artwork itself. A true “portal” guiding the eye inward.
These are some of the most labor-intensive and detailed works I’ve ever made. The gold foil alone required immense patience—every edge laid, burnished, and sealed by hand. The landscapes themselves evolved over months, not days, each one a careful blending of memory, imagination, and painterly intuition.
They are dreamscapes, portals, and escapes.
A merging of nature, memory, fantasy, and light.
A place you somehow recognize, even if you’ve never been there.
Each piece comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
Ships in 7–10 business days.
Local pickup available in San Diego.
