I sent this in-progress picture to Cheri and wrote,
“When I was working on Larry's eyes I tried to capture his sense of humor. I'm glad you told me about that. About the rock cows, and the watch frogs….❤️”
Below the picture is what Cheri had told me.
“Larry had a truly funny sense of humor...he couldn't tell a joke to save his life - always got hung up adding details that didn't matter so people would get impatient waiting for the punch line - but he came up with stuff he made up that simply cracked everybody up! For example - one spring when the male frogs were out in full force croaking their heads off in hopes of finding a female...he claimed they were actually "Watch frogs". They were croaking after long periods of silence to let us know something (like a burglar) was in our backyard. Once he got going with his little creation, he couldn't stop. Soon he was talking about the "Protection Trained Frogs", who had to go to Frog Seal School for training...there were special leashes for graduate Watch Frogs and the owners of those highly specialized protectors had to have a Certificate of Watch Froggyness in order to be able to order those leashes. On and on it went - for YEARS.
One time we were driving along the freeway and he looked up on the hill ahead of us and pointed out a big brown cow. I said it wasn't a cow. It was a rock. And he said, "It's a rock cow. Out there by himself, waiting for the rain so he can get the dirt off his rock fur". Every time we saw a bunch of rocks, it was a "herd of rock cows, a very special breed - they don't give milk or beef - they just hang out decorating the hills"....that never ended either.
He always made me laugh with his wild imagination - but never at his jokes. I just wanted him to "get on with the punch line" and that wasn't his strong point!
So many wonderful memories…”
I believe it’s important
for a portrait artist to get to know the subject they are portraying, before starting a portrait. That helps me capture the essence of who they really were. There are tiny, subtle differences in the way I put in the pencil strokes when working on their facial features, knowing that person (or pet) had an intense personality, or a funny wit, or a sweetness that their partner loved. With Larry, the whole time I was working on his eyes, and the skin around his eyes, I held in my mind that his wife loved his funny sense of humor. There are subtle differences in the colors and shapes of eyes that are smiling with affection, for example, vs smiling because that person has a silly joke up their sleeve!
“Cheri and Larry”, in progress.
🎨 Prismacolor pencil on "Felt Grey" Canson Mi-Teintes paper.
20 x 24 inches.
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