Retiree Frank

The protrait is an alla prima. I did it outdoors in the open. Originally I planned to make it as a submission to the Faces and Figures National Show at Punta Gorda. It was an interesting experience. I did it at Frank's fron yard and people curiously stopped to watch me paint. A motorbider drove back and forth three times and finally he stopped his motorcycle and yelled to me,"Your phone number." So I went over and gave his my card. Since Frank had so much stuff in his front yard that quite a few people stopped by thinking it was a garage sale. People wowed and ahed. It seemed everyone liked it including Frank. The only one who didn't like it was myself. I know people like it because of likeness. Honestly, likeness is not my concern. The reason I don't like it is because in the whole process of painting, I didn't do enough abstraction. A great number of masters have mentioned that as an artist, you have to go through the stage of abstraction, that is, to think how you can go beyond reality, to sublimate the image and/or the environment to make the view more powerfully touching than reality. I knew I didn't do enough on that stage. I may not submit it for the show, not because I am concerned that it would not be accepted or I would not win the award. No, winning award is an encouragement, but that is not the driving force in my art pursuit. It is simple because it is not my best.

Frank wasn't very happy the day I was painting him because someone had stolen his lawnmower the previous day. He lives on my daily bike route. Each day when I went by, I always saw him sitting in his yard. I like the contrast between his complexion and his hair. Therefore, one day I stopped and offered to paint him. He agreed to pose for me in his front yard.

In the middle of my painting him, there was an interlude. A car pulled over in front of Frank's yard when a yang man hopped out  and rushed into the house. Shortly after he entered the house, I heard he was quarreling with Frank's wife inside. I asked Frank who the young man was. He said that was his grandson. Then, he shook his head sighing, "No respect, no respect at all." I noticed his eyes welled in tears. Later, the yong man came out of the house and kept yelling. I could not hold myself any more. I said loudly, "Young man, that is not the way to talk to your grandma. We don't do that to outsiders, to say nothing, she is your grandma, the loved one." To my surprise, he quieted down. I was happy I stepped in. Afterwards, I thought of my own culture. I remember that Ge Young, the author of Ugly Chinese once said, one of the weaknesses many Chinese share is the fact that they are very unwilling to admit when they have made a mistake or hurt people. It is difficult for them to apologize, more so among family members. There is even a false reasoning in Chinese culture. A popular old saying is "there is no fighting without love; there is no yelling without closeness." To me it is more like "familiarity breeds contempt." If that is the case, that means there is a problem which needs to be fixed and it should not be norm. Lev Tolstoy said,

“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”