I Stare At People

On the cellphone at Epoch

The weather has changed early this year, and we are all enjoying being outside. I’ve heard from my horse-loving neighbors that their horses have put on thick winter coats already, and they are claiming that it will be a very cold winter. But for now, the weather is glorious, and the summer’s veil of heat has been raised.

So, everyone is outside, and basking in the low sun and blue, blue sky. This young woman was sunning herself, enjoying her coffee, and chatting on the phone outside of Epoch. I painted her through the window, very quickly. She was quite stylish in her black top, fashionable sunglasses, and casual updo.

He was very fit and thin

He was sitting beside me, eating peanut butter with a spoon, straight out of the jar. I assume that he had just completed an intense run, since he was very fit and thin. People who are this fit can eat an entire jar of peanut butter in one sitting – they require the fat and protein. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen anyone do this in public; it’s usually associated with binge eating. What seems like an unhealthy attitude towards eating, certainly has its place. When a person is as fit as this guy was, it makes perfect sense that he was pounding down the fat, carbs, and protein.

I captured him as he was taking a break from the jar, and watching something on his laptop. He had on a “wife-beater tank top T-shirt, and running shorts. He was also plugged into his iPod, but I chose to leave that out of the picture.

The only customer in the back room in the early morning

I arrived early at FlightPath. This man came in a few minutes afterwards. I was trying to be really discreet, and not get caught painting him, but I’m fairly certain that he knew. It’s always best to have a buffer zone of other customers to offer distractions.

Since I have taken yellow off my palette for now, this painting took on a somber tone, even though the walls are really yellow. It matched the mood perfectly – with his gray box-tailed shirt, and his black pants and soft-soled nubuck shoes. The painting and subject took on a muted tone, and that is exactly what I experienced. As if activity was suspended and murky. It didn’t help that I had stolen the lamp of his table before he arrived.

He was engrossed in his writing, and using his Bible as reference

I rarely go out painting at early breakfast hours, because there just aren’t a lot of early birds in the summer for me to paint. This morning, I just felt like going out early. It seemed like a good day for FlightPath.

When I arrived, there was only one other customer in the back half of the coffee house. I was able to set up at my favorite table, have breakfast, and wait for some more folks to arrive.

This young man had a sweet, intent disposition. He had on a bright yellow shirt that matched the walls, but I have omitted yellow from my palette for a spell – I don’t know why.

He had a big leather Bible that was to the right of his laptop, that he was referencing as he wrote. The deeper he got into his thinking and writing, the more often he reached for it. At first, the Bible was laying properly, and then he flipped it on its spine, splaying open the pages. The next time, he laid the Bible on its belly, splitting the book  somewhere in the first sections of the Old Testament.

I know that a lot of younger clergy hang out in coffee houses, and some folks have Bible studies there. But, his intense study said “Seminary student” to me. I really don’t know…

Here is another sketch from my sketchbook, that I did of the punk rocker at SpiderHouse. I’m planning on going out this week for some “live” painting, so stay tuned. Also, I will let folks know where I’ll be on Twitter. You can follow the tweets either here at my blog, or on Twitter. See you soon, I hope.

The photo was taken in my back yard several years ago.

Several years ago, I took pictures of some of my daughter’s high school friends. They had joined the school’s “Enviro Club”, only to find out that it meant cleaning up the leftover trash in the cafeteria. We all had a good laugh, and it lead to me thinking about a painting series (which I usually avoid). I wanted to capture some of that idealistic thinking that is unique to kids. I never proceeded.

I had some time to kill in the studio because I am prepping for some “live” work at a fashion show. I ran acrosss one of the photos, and decided to bang out this painting. I hope that you like it. More “live’ work very soon!

Big-Eyed, and slightly bored at Epoch.

I’m at my happiest when I can capture someone in less than ten minutes, as is the case here. She sported a summer cut, a style influenced by the French (I lived in Paris for 6 months almost 20 years ago). She had it blackened, it was straight, and shiny – a fantastic look that brought out those big eyes.

She was slightly bored. The young man that she with was busy with his work on his laptop. He actually had his laptop seated in his lap, and not the table. I might have painted him also, if I had the time, although he had a yellow T-shirt on. For some reason, and I know not why, I have developed an aversion to painting in yellow in my coffee house paintings. Which is odd, because two of my favorite coffee houses have yellow walls. If I knew more about color theory, the answer would be clear. Perhaps it is because I am painting in neutral cools – but you need the complimentary for intensity. So, all I know is that yellow is off my palette for the time-being.

Lauren and I both did portraits of the guy next to us.

My friend Lauren Hamilton Levy and I set out for Epoch yesterday, and we got lucky – we found a pretty good table. The guy next to us, in the corner, was hunkered down for a long spell. He was very thin and East Coast in appearance. (We never wear NorthFace apparel in the summer). He was writing; I assume that the book to his right was some sort of reference work. I didn’t want to get caught staring, but I thought that I made the first word of the title out to read, “Shagura”. I was going to look up the full title when I got home. Well, I am stumped as to what he was reading. Anyone out there know?

He was in work attire, trying to complete the crossword in the local daily paper.

When he very first arrived during morning rush hour, I thought that he was going to be there for a very short time. I was wrong: he was still there, four hours later. My friend, Lauren, and I moved from our table behind him, and sat where we could see his face.

There were so many good subjects there that day. Lauren had names for all of them: “Sargent Rock”, “Viggo Mortenson”, and “Johnny Cash”. Of course, she has to talk with everybody – which just terrifies me. She shouts, “Hey, can I draw you?” I try to evaporate, duck under the table, or completely turn my back. She’s a founding member of our three-member ART CLUB, and a spectacular artist – much better than me. Right now, she has a show in Paris at some fancy institute right off the Champs-Elysees.

Anyway, I’ve been busy with commissions in the studio, so I’m posting some drawings from my sketchbook. My next project is this: I have some retail friends that want me to go and paint at their stores. I haven’t got around to it, and it really needs to be done. I’m excited about that – so if you know anybody who wants me to come in their establishment, they can reach me here by leaving a comment.

These two brothers were so simpatico.

My brother and I had a horrible relationship growing up. We fought constantly. We had dirt clod fights (they hurt), grass spur fights, and we broke each other’s things (I stuck my finger through the wings of his radio-controlled airplane). The fights escalated after my dad died to such a level that the neighbors called the police after I chased him down the street with…well, I won’t tell you.

When you see harmony and brotherly love right in front of you, it is as if God chose that opportunity to smack you in the face with the beam in your own eye. Sometimes, we just can’t get over ourselves to get along, can we? Not the case here – these two brothers, five years apart, liked each other! They could chill with each other. The younger one had a deck of “magic cards”, that he was sharing with his brother. At one point, the little one reached over and hugged his brother. The teenager patted his little brother on the head. It was so touching and so real that tears came. I felt a true longing and vacancy. Relationship. What else is there?

As most of you know, I usually do my “guerrilla painting” on the spot in a freehand fashion. I don’t go back in later and pretty things up. But, this particular painting, although started “live”, was completed in the studio. Here’s why:

I have never accepted a commission on my “guerrilla” style, cafe paintings. In fact, I won’t sell them, or give them away, either.

So, when Leslie Langee got a hold of me on Twitter, and asked me to do a commission of her 2 boys, I thought that she was enquiring about my children’s pastel portraiture work (commissioned work from photographs). My agent contacted Leslie, and found out that she wanted a “live” painting at a coffeehouse of her two boys, ages 11 and 16. They worked out all of the details together. The boys would not be told that they were going to be painted. We chose the Spider House. Since the painting was 16×20 instead of my usual 9×12, and the mom wanted to be able to see the faces of both boys, I completed the painting in the studio, with the aid of a photograph.