This portrait of Bill recently won a blue ribbon at the local level (the North Chicago Veterans Center) of the Veterans Creative Arts Festival. It will be submitted to the national level competition, which takes place in October, 2010 in La Crosse, WI. The disabled veterans at the North Chicago center responded positively to the work.
For a long time I've thought about doing a large portrait of Bill in his brace. He had to wear this during the last few months of his life because cancer had eaten away two cervical vertebrae and the doctors feared that if Bill fell without the brace, he would paralyzed. Fortunately that never happened.
I was so impressed with the dignity and grace and humor he showed as he accepted this latest discomfort. I flooded the space around him with light to illuminate this aura of spirituality that separates the dying from the rest of us. Part of him was already in the next life.
When you look at his eyes and pursed lips, you can see his mixed feelings about his situation. He is happy about my visit, but suffering. He has accepted his fate and has that intense inward stare I've seen so often on military men.
There is great beauty is dying well. If he had complained or said, "Why me?" I'm not sure I could have endured the loss of him. I'm hoping this painting will give him a kind of immortality.
This week I showed this image to several high school classes during a talk I gave about what it's like to be an artist. One of the things I told them is portraits like this are why I paint. There are portrait painters who make a great living making people look glamorous- an idealized form of that person. For me, observing people through the challenges and joys of their lives is far more compelling
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