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Paul Klee Disguised As A Homeless Man

In 2000 my wife Karen and I traveled to Africa to attend the International Aids Conference in Durban, SA. Each day walking to the venue we would pass through a huge open-air bazaar. One afternoon as I was walking back to my hotel I found that there was entertainment set up in a grassy location just outside the bazaar. There were perhaps 200 people gathered to hear the speeches and musical groups. As it happens they had set up in the bedroom of this homeless man. In simple protest and disgust he had crawled under his blanket and refused to come out. Fascinated by this image I shot a photo with the idea I might do something with it at a later date. Three years later I was inspired to do this painting.

When I started this work I was struck by 2 things: the total isolation of the man to his environment and the resemblance of the blanket pattern to the works of Paul Klee. Trying to capitalize on both I painted him alone on a stark canvas and used no shading in a semi-abstract manor like Klee. I removed all extraneous objects except the small discarded piece of trash lying on the blanket. It seemed to me to symbolize the very essence of the man and his place in society. Finally, to give the canvas some “weight” I used the old paint water to wash the background. Again a reference to his throwaway quality. These soft washed pastels give the work an almost Japanese watercolor appearance.

The painting is acrylic and was completed very quickly over a 2-day time frame. Despite the abstract application of the paint the work retains a haunting photo-like quality conveying the subject mater instantly.

Durban, SA is a major spice-making center for India and Africa. As one walks through the streets the air is redolent with the mingled spices of the Far East and a cacophony of people speaking in Zulu and various Indian dialects. Whenever I look at this painting I can still smell the air of Africa and hear the sounds of its people.

Beginning to paint

As you can see in this photo the charcoal has left me all the pertinent lines I need to begin the painting. Some of these areas may be redrawn using a charcoal pencil. The original photo (I shot) is attached to the canvas for reference. I begin with the skin tones. The entire face is essentially completed in about 3 hours. I mixed the acrylic with an extender to prevent fast drying and saved it in a sealed container for later touch ups, if needed. It is important (for me) to move quickly as I find it difficult to re-mix exactly the same skin tones. I don’t have any formulas but I use a small chart to guide me in creating skins tones. My “model” is Eurasian and has a dark skin tone. I begin by mixing what I want to middle tones. I use white, cad. yellow light, burnt sienna and black. Once I find my middle I will use some whites or unbleached titanium for highlights and various combinations of umber, sienna, unbleached tit., black, and phtalo blue for darks and shadows. For me, the white highlights give the viewer the impression of a snapshot by utilizing the flash of the camera.

The Painting Progresses

Once the skin has been painted to near completion, eyes, lips, and ear are added. At each stage I revisit the next day and make minor adjustments where I feel they are needed. The sweater is blocked in using black then scraped back to let some of the background yellow come through as opposed to painting in sweater details. I do this for a couple of reasons 1. it provides visual interest to the viewer giving a work painterly touches and 2. it helps remove the image from the photograph. In this way I can leave out unimportant background details and embellish with flourishes of color

Nearing Completion

It has been just over five days and the painting is nearly complete. Today (with student help) we tackle the camo on the hat. In this photo you can see that we drew directly on the canvas with paint tubes. The vibrant colors again, bring the painting further away from the photo and provide a little movement in the composition. I think that it may be important to note that while I use the photograph as my reference I may or may not match the colors I see. Often I will as I was taken by what I shot in the first place. Not merely the model but their clothes and gestures as well. In this case I made part of the camo a bit softer green that works well with the yellow background. By morning’s end the entire canvas has been covered.

Glazing the Skin

The final step in completing the Gratitude Girl is glazing the skin. I use a VERY thin mixture of Cad. Red Light and LOTS of water. Using a soft watercolor brush I coat the skin ares. As you can observe it looks terrible as it goes on. Why do this? It softens the highlights, pulls brush strokes together and gives the skin the feel of blood pulsing below the skin. It literally brings my “girl” to life. If you are using an extender to prevent drying in your acrylic make sure it has sufficient time to dry before you take this step or you can pull paint off your canvas. This step can be repeated if needed after sufficient drying time. The painting should be flat to prevent drips and runs.

The Gratitude Girl

A huge thank you to Joe Lanni and his talented classroom of artists at the Columbia Middle School, Berkeley Heights, NJ. I had sooo much fun.