Matteo
A good friend of our son, Matteo, took his photo from his Seattle back porch several winters ago. Snow flurries in mid-February. Barren trees. Matt smiling his inner-happiness smile, obviously enjoying the snow and oblivious to the cold. The patio table in front of him is arrayed with recently caught Alaskan King Crabs.
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This is one of our favorite photos of him, it captures his charm and character. For years I’ve wanted to render this image into a painting. But the events of a few weeks ago got me motivated. Matt lost all of his stored possessions — thieves had stolen the U-Haul filled with his furniture, photos, family memories. They took everything, including the artwork I’d gifted him over the past decades. Of course his family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors have pitched in. We rallied to his cause, more than a hundred people donating to his GoFundMe. Matteo is slowly getting his life put back together.
This portrait is the first in his new art collection. For this piece, I mounted the canvas onto foam core . I feel that the pastels “take” better to the canvas when there’s a firm surface below the canvas. Only after the piece was finished, and applied the fixative, did I then stretch the canvas onto stretchers.
Enjoy your portrait, Matteo. Don’t forget those overwhelmingly happy days when you smiled through the snow storm.
P.S. A big shout out to my ultimate frisbee teammates who accepted seven of my works in exchange for a donation to Matteo’s GoFundMe:
• Winter Vista
• The Blue Shutters
• Callejón de los Curas
• Manhattan Energy
• Rust
• Pool at Lecher Creek
• Calla Lily
