Dr. Terry Sherer

A few days ago I began painting a portrait of Dr.Terry Sherer: heroic educator, tireless arts advocate, voracious reader, and beloved friend.  Jeff and I visited him in his marvelous home in Missouri last weekend for a photo shoot and a wonderfully rambling, afternoon-long conversation that was, as I told Terry when we said goodbye, good for my soul. 

An enviable number of books line the walls of Terry's sunlit dining room, and that spot became an ideal setting for a portrait.  We moved some furniture, put a book in his hands, and within minutes we had some excellent shots from which to choose.  Terry's cat Truman watched from a distance, and later we coaxed him to model for us as well, but only for about a minute, as Truman had many things to do that day.  Through the magic of painting, he will eventually appear at his master's side, his eyes addressing the viewer as if to say, "Interrupting this man's reading is unacceptable.  If you have anything to say to him, you'll have to come through me first."  Or something along those lines.  

The picture above is a detail of a much larger composition (see all of the white space below).  His head is only about 2.5 inches tall in the painting, so the tiny brush got a real workout.  I'm not quite finished with the skin, and I need to make a few minor color adjustments on the shirt to imitate reflected light.  As you can see, most of the painting will be books, books, glorious books!

In order to stay on schedule, tomorrow I'm going to take a break from this portrait to start a diptych (a painting that goes across two sheets of paper) of the Simmons children.  Lori Simmons, a friend of mine from high school, and her husband John have six children, and I decided to distribute them across two paintings.  This means I will be able to stretch out and really do them justice.  You'll see these beautiful children start to happen in the coming week.

So!  I'm working on three paintings at the same time.  We'll see how this goes!

Comments

[Adam Tate]

Wow...seriously. This is absolutely amazing. I am seriously speechless.

[The Beautiful Kind]

If you were anywhere near St Louis I'm going to be cross with you.

[Hil]

You do a lot of small, detailed stuff. What brand is your tiniest brush or did you have to make it yourself? My tiny brush just ain't cutting it. Grr. And for now I am going to believe it is the brush and not me. Heh.

[Caroline]

Beautiful job on the shirt.

I cannot overstate or emphasize enough just how much Dr Sherer made me feel like a person who would be appreciated someday instead of a small, squashed weirdo in a terrible town.