July, August and September found me
wandering about the 19th Ward as well as walking with Vincent, again. The
Smith's live up the street and during the summer of 93 I painted Wanda, the
wife, Allan the father and Amari, the little girl. I worked in a copy of
Vincent's Chair and one of Gauguin's chair while finishing up a portrait of
Carmen Woods (our Human Resources Director, who told me she still cries at home
because some situations are too difficult to bare).
Portrait
of Wanda Smith (7/93)
I
sat and made sketches of Wanda for about an hour one afternoon and took them
back to my studio to finish the work. The painting came out flat and abstract.
I don't think that's the best I can do and hope for another chance.
This
is a picture of my chair, which resembles Vincent’s, and the background, I
borrowed.
I was painting what I wanted to be the
best painting of the, or a 19th Ward woman, when instead, out comes
Carmen Woods. About a month after I gave her this picture, and about a year
after I’d painted it, she changed her hairstyle to just like this. Don’t go
burgundy, but just the same.
Sometimes, in October, just as it starts
to get cold, I’ll take a summer photo and paint a picture of it. This is that,
and a pretty good effort at freedom.
Flowers
in my back yard (10/93)
