Me, Telling You
Something Special of Lafayette 916 Main Street, Lafayette,
Gallery is open Tues-Fri 10-5:30, Saturday 10-4.
Something interesting has come up in the course of my portrait-making, and it gave me pause.
When I draw people on request, when I do my quick-sketch portraits, I treat them as brief commissions and I draw people the way they see themselves.
I can usually see what people value in their appearance by paying attention to the way they hold themselves. We can’t do anything about our bones, but the way we use our facial muscles reveals a lot.
So when I’m done I turn the drawing around and ask my customer “Is this right?”
That’s usually what they expect to hear, and they usually respond well. It’s great, that’s my goal – to make it “right” in their eyes.
But sometimes I’ll hear a different response.
Sometimes my clients will say “You’re the artist. You tell me.”
Hmmm….
What, exactly, do I want to tell people?
So that’s what these pieces are. They’re my answer.
Instead of trying to anticipate what people might like, I focused on my experiences.
It’s kind of tricky because in learning to “draw”, one learns to do a good job of perceiving clearly the reality upon which we can all agree. That’s what’s teachable – the consensus. Things are definitely here versus there, you can gauge the distance with your pencil. There are objective means of measuring reality.
We can agree.
To make art, though, is to let one’s individual vision be the guide. To choose and decide and ignore. Even if nobody else sees it that way.
Because the process of making art is about looking at the world and taking it apart and then reassembling the important elements on paper.
What gives it structure, for me, are the relationships between the elements. Shapes and light and form and color, coming together and occupying space in their unique ways and influencing each other. And the reason they matter is because of how I experience them; I’m the glue.
So I realize that things in these pieces are exaggerated and, in some respects, inaccurate. That’s the point. Because these are about experiences. This isn’t documentation.
This is me, telling you.
Portrait Events:
April 28, Crawfordsville Library
May 12, Mosey Down Main, Lafayette
Plein Aire Events:
April 19-21, First Brush of Spring, New Harmony
May 19, T.C. Steele, Nashville
Quick Summary
I work in oils, tempera (poster paint), acrylics, water color, latex (ordinary house paint), dry pastels, charcoal, pen and ink, and graphite. I do portraits, landscapes, and still lifes.
Most of my recent landscapes are set in Lafayette, Indiana.
I also welcome commissions. My wonderful customers have brought me all kinds of projects: homes to do paintings of, homes to do paintings on; portraits of themselves and their families that I turn into tight graphite drawings; gifts for their friends, drawings of their businesses, and a book cover!
Full (and illustrated) resume is under “Where I’ve Been”
Art is under “What I’ve Done”
More info on portraits under “Who I Draw”