I’ve been trying to roll with the corona homestay in a mellow way — trying not to get too panicked about the pandemic and also trying not to put too much pressure on myself to accomplish something meaningful during this time. I have definitely been indulging in staying up late with a book, eating lots of warm-from-the-oven bread, and ignoring to-do lists. But I don’t want to be a complete sloth and totally miss this opportunity to explore things in a low-key, private way.
Taking a walk on the road at the end of March, I stopped to talk with a neighbor I hadn’t seen in quite a while. As we talked, I had the idea that maybe I could ask him if I could snap a photo and then paint him. He was totally open to it, so I went ahead and used my phone to just get a picture of him bundled up in his winter work clothes, bright orange watch cap and all.
In the weeks since, I’ve been painting people I encounter in my quarantine travels as an organizing principle for my studio practice. So, as I go for walks on my road or head into town to the store, I’ve been asking folks I see, but wouldn’t necessarily think of as close friends, if I can snap their photos, and then using them for photo sources back in my studio.
My neighbor Alison was biking on trails around our road — but found too much snow to really enjoy it
Damian was restocking shelves at the local market
Our neighbor Doug delivered two dozen fresh eggs to us, with his son Ripley
Mike is our road’s UPS driver
It’s been good practice — not only for the faces, but the asking too. I had had an idea for a project in the fall that would have relied on reaching out to people I didn’t really know, in a similar way, but my discomfort with that had gotten in the way of getting it done. Also, I’d wondered how much I could like a portrait that was just from a snapshot — would it be able to capture much of their personality, their likeness? I think these do capture some important parts of the people. I’ve been sharing them with the folks after I paint them, and so far they’ve responded pretty positively.