Isaiah 43:16

This portrait is worthy of blogging because it is a portrait of an inbetween lover. Done before the one titled “God’s Bull”, this was a person I dealt with in a time I was supposed to be dealing with myself. A lesson learned because he was an amazing person through and through and if I would have met him in a time of beig healed or just having dealt with my own shit I might have actually been something. The portrait is titled after the Bible verse and his name.

“16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make adarkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”

Even though Isaiah was a person that was of the middle. He showed me the truth about myself and who I was being and becoming. I also was able to be honest, or practice the honest I couldn’t with the person I should have. Another comedic fact about this portrait is it started out as a competition between the two. He noticed I liked drawing and he liked drawing too, and so I obviously finished first. Due to the way things turned out he never drew me though (lol) and he also rejected my portrait for what it symbolized to him just wasn’t a positive thing.

Working on his facial features was one of my favorite parts of this portrait. Being the first one I did in a personal level I felt like I was really challenging myself to do something. If you knew him it would be crazy for you to see how much it is him. The texture of the hair was a big thing to me. I literally did each of them like chicken scratch to give the illusion of thick individual strains. I felt like this made his beard look more full even in the darkest of areas. The roach in his mouth too, or doobie in some cases, took some effort in the mini details to make it look lit.

Also drawing the jewelry was another favorite of mine and a challenge. Having only drawn it in still life’s I still had been discovering the cheat code to playing with detail and pencil stroke. For the first time I really used a lot of white chalk in a portrait. Which made the metal look more present due to me using mostly the white if the paper to define my highlights. I also admire how I got the shading in the chest to make it look like it was really pertruding from the skin. It was something that really excited me and shocked myself about the drawing every time I stepped back from it to check it out.

This portrait also helped me realize that I love playing with darkness like Caravaggio. I admire how he truly lets things disappear into darkness and I can see where I allowed myself to study that here. Really getting the expression in the forehead and eyebrows as well as the different in lighting around the eyes. He looks really somber but strong to me.

All in all this portrait rest with me and may become made into prints. I feel like it has an essence of black prowess and power and a lot of power in it. It resides with me here in California. Only to be sold at a crazy high price because of my love for it. Consider it a mini passion project.