Karen McCann, Artist
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Characters

5/9/2012

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Picture
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

Picture
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

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    I love to talk about my paintings – and often do, as my long-suffering friends will attest. These are some of the stories I tell people who ask, "So what were you thinking about when you painted this one?"

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