My Muse~Beginning about 10 years ago, my daily routine included a 5-10 minute, morning quick sketch. A doodle or drawing of a facebook friend, from some photo they’d posted. It was usually a person or animal, that would catch my attention. The idea was to force me to see, apply an automatic drawing sensibility, to how I saw and put it down on paper without over thinking it. It was great fun and the results were an enlightening excersize. Sometimes their natural state of beauty & vulnerablility, being of both a physical & emotional presence, captures my attention & imagination. Such is the case with Nathan, which began with a simple gesture, a line sketch of his face, that exudes an uncanny depth of character & soulfulness, you know “je ne sais quoi”.
After contacting Nathan and getting his permission to continue drawing him, I found a beautiful person & compelling subject in him, and so I began painting him as well. What intrigues us, compells us to create. Faces are always of great interest and intrigue to me. They have the possibility to speak volumes in a single look. The soulfull eyes of a free spirit penetrate all, in their gaze. A unique nose has always fascinated me, as well…Personality, with a fearless zest for life, he wears every piercing, gage, tattoo and line in his face as a triumphant and well earned, battle scare of sorts, in some unwritten tribal & communal right of passage. For all those who take the road less traveled, he seems to say, “this way, I’ll leave a trail.”
From simple line drawings in pencil and pen & ink to portrait studies in acrylic and oil, my muse captured my imagination. So, we’d work a pose as I began to paint full figures, as well, some in real space and others in imagined. At one point I painted him more realistic, but in an abstract space, in oil, then still another, and finally merging him in one more piece, more recently, a comtemporary abstract realist painting, a mixed media, all with my signature mark of 18k gold. Drawing and painting someone, over and over again, is really a quite intimate affair, whether admitted or not. It reveals as much about the artist as the subject, again reuntiting my inner rebel & my former youth. What I have realised most, is that I have a unique & ever distinct way of seeing, one that goes back to middle school, of my first recollection. It seems, more than a likeness, but a way of capturing the essence & energy, of the true spirit of that person of interest. It’s with much gratitude, to all those who serve as inspiration and models for my imagination that I say thank you, with special recognition & appreciation for having served for many, many years as my muse, Nathan…one of the beautiful people.
As always, feel free to comment & ask questions,
~Richard
Nathan