The Painter

It seems that I've gotten carried away with posting my sketches lately, so I thought I'd mix in a little variety.

When Jim and I met, mutual friends brought him over to my house in May of 2006 to view a body of ceramic sculptures I'd finished, and was preparing to ship off to a gallery in San Diego.   It was the Postulant series, with very wide, stubby bodies.   Each Postulant represented a passion that figure had with what they brought to the world.  For instance, "Pharmacognosy" held an open book of herbal medicine in his hands, with vines and plants growing from the pages.  "The Dancer" was doing just that in her endearing little way.  However, there was one I didn't have time to begin work on, "The Painter".    As Jim and I got to know each other better, he commissioned me to do a Postulant that more or less represented his recently deceased wife, Suzanne.   She was a passionate painter.   I hadn't spoken to him of the one sculpture that I didn't have the timeframe to create!   Life's synchronicities  continue to amaze me.   Though I had been a professional portrait painter many years ago, I had never actually done a portrait in clay, especially of someone whom I'd never met.   It was an emotional process, knowing what was at stake.   She was finished, dried, and fired by the end of 2006, but the Painter was finally painted January 2011, in time for the fifth anniversary of Suzanne's death.   Jim invited friends and community who had known Suzanne, for a reception.    One of the more gratifying moments of my life as an artist.   Fittingly, these photographs were taken by Jim.

A foot note:  Jim more than paid off the price of "The Painter" by taking me to Italy for three weeks, September 2006!  And sadly, there were a few of the Postulants that I didn't have time to photograph before they sold (Dancer and Pharmacognosy included), but I do have photos of some I can include in later postings.