Characters

I once took a life drawing class where week after week I sketched a slender young woman with a conventionally pretty face, and I have never been so bored in my life. Give me a face that shows its years and its owner’s zest for living, and I can do something on the canvas that’s worth looking at. I have read that the purpose of life isn’t to arrive at death in perfect condition but to slide into it sideways with your hair mussed, your clothes disheveled, a martini in one hand and chocolate in the other, shouting “Whooeee, what a ride!” Those are the faces I want to paint

I don’t know if the the old Indian woman in the green turban has ever actually had a martini, but I feel certain her life has been vivid. I know the man in red somewhat better; he’s a British gentleman who serves as headmaster of the Portuguese art school Art in the Algarve. I have always felt that at heart, he’s a bit of a buccaneer, and I’ve tried to capture that hint of a piratical gleam in his eye. I suspect both these good souls will arrive at the pearly gates someday saying, “Whooeee, what a ride!”

Originally published May 13, 2011