Just a bit too good

The watercolour finished, viewed from every which way I could think of, tweaked and adjusted so that I was happy with it, I rang the client to say it was completed. We agreed a date and time for him to come and collect it and I got on with the next painting on my to do list....

He arrived on time, and seemed quietly happy with the painting. Well he had a big grin on his face. I think it had taken him back abit to see himself depicted in a painting. I smiled in understanding, I've seen that reaction before. I know he will spend the next few days looking and looking and looking at it until he grows to know it as well as his own reflection. In a way it is his reflection, but also it isn't. It's the face we all see, not the face he sees. When you look in a mirror it is by definition, and excuse me for stating the bleeding obvious, a mirror image. When you look at a painting of yourself, it's the face the rest of the world sees, and will seem a little disconcerting at first to the person whose face it is, a little out of kilter, well known, but slightly wrong somehow. But gradually, quietly, there is an acceptance that that is the "real me" and the love for it will grow accordingly.

As he was about to go I mentioned that I might put it on my blog, to show my latest painting, and asked the same question that I ask of anyone who has had their portrait painted by me, the "Are you happy with that...?" question. And he said straight away "If you don't show the face" and I laughed in understanding and said "Ah, it's too good isn't it - its too like you, that you don't want anyone down the pub taking the mickey of you posing for this naked".

 

So, here is the picture, because I want to show it as my latest artwork, because its in watercolours and they're far more difficult to do than oils, to get the nuances of tone right, as its so unforgiving a medium to adjust if anything needs adjusting.

But the face has been blanked out. And he is without name. Without age. Without geographic area.

But, I'm pretty sure that somewhere, some one is quietly sitting looking at this picture in its entirety and smiling gently to himself......