Caleb is passionate about his art. He feels a physical need to paint and hasn't let anything stop him. A few years ago, his family home caught fire and many of his materials and earlier artworks were destroyed. He has been able to get back to painting, but has to schedule art-making in with his work and his job as a TA at MJC. Since he works with oils, he sometimes has to paint in a small section of his family's garage, and I was amazed at what he can accomplish in the tiny space he has. Other times, he has to paint outside. In fact, the first time we tried to get together for photos, we had to cancel because the Tracy wind made painting outside impossible. On the day I photographed him, Caleb was working on a painting of ducks near the lake in Hidden Lake. He brought crackers to toss on the ground to bring the ducks to him. Sometimes we had ducks around us. Sometimes we had neighbors stopping to watch him paint and pay him compliments. Caleb was grateful and courteous to everyone despite the distractions. He used an easel that he carted over to the lake in a wagon along with his painting supplies. When I first met him, Caleb told me that most of his clothes have paint on them. He often has to squeeze in time for painting between his other activities, and he doesn't have time to change clothes. I was hoping to catch him in his paint-covered clothing, and he didn't disappoint. His sweatpants basically match his palette paper. Caleb has an exuberant personality. He is excited and enthusiastic about his art and his purpose. He sees his talent as a gift from God that he wants to use to help others. Caleb loves using vibrant color in his work. Color is very important to him, but he also speaks in terms of light and dark. He said, "I want to give people hope and joy to pull back from darkness." He also talked about experiencing times of darkness himself, especially during the last year-and-a-half with covid restrictions. However, he doesn't express those dark feelings in his work. Instead, when he is in a dark place, Caleb paints joyful paintings with lots of color. He said, “I’m doing battle with paint.”
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Although I've photographed painter Vince Walsh in several settings a few years ago (see earlier blog posts), I recently asked him to sit for me for a more posed portrait as well as for a little bit of an experiment. For the portrait above, we met at Vince's classroom at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts. I asked him to bring some of the books he feels are important to him as well as a painting that represents his work. If you talk to Vince, you know that he is serious about learning and will tell you about the books he's read to improve his ability to paint and to teach other aspiring artists. I felt that including some of his books in the portrait would let the viewer know a little more about Vince.
The painting you see in the photo above is called, "Beauty Close to Home." It was painted at Klein Ranch. When I asked Vince why he chose that painting to bring to the photo shoot, he said, "The painting was done spontaneously and fearlessly...it was a meditative journey in observation." Vince reduced less important details to "capture the mood and essential elements of nature." He noted, "It was a painterly painting." (I should say that the photo above was intended to be a portrait of Vince, so I was not focused on getting an accurate representation of his painting. Since the photo has lots of shadow, the colors in the painting are not shown clearly.) The next day, Vince met me at my house where I was desperately trying to learn how to use my new studio lights to create a more dramatic photo of Vince's hands. At one of our previous outdoor photo shoots, Vince had forgotten his paintbrushes, but he didn't seem too concerned. He said something like, "I think I could paint with twigs as long as I have my spray bottle." I wanted to see if I could photograph him holding a paintbrush and twigs in a way that would be interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good arrangement for the twigs, and I thought the resulting images weren't that strong. However, I did like the photo below. I know that portraiture traditionally shows a person's face and usually includes the eyes. I feel though that portraiture can be broader so long as the image conveys something important about the subject and creates a psychological connection with the viewer. Vince has quite interesting hands, and I wanted to bring them to the attention of the viewer. |
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April 2022
AuthorTiffanie Heben is a photographer who has been inspired by the artists in her community |