Surrounded by writers

I’m surrounded by writers. Not real life ones, because that would get a little too crowded in my studio. Portraits.

For my April exhibition I aim to create 50 portraits of writers, and at this point I have finished twelve of them. I started with some of my favorite ones, because their faces are familiar to me. David Sedaris, Michael Cunningham, Annie M. G. Schmidt, Roald Dahl,… all of them are looking at me with their kind eyes while I paint their collegues.

I wonder if I’ll get tired of them, in a month or two. But that would be like getting tired of reading: impossible. In making the list of authors to include in this exhibition, I revisited the books, poems and stories that meant something to me at one point in my life. Such diversity, such different worlds.

I haven’t read a lot in 2022, but I have thoroughly enjoyed Andrea Gibson’s poetry, listening to their snippets of wisdom again and again:

Remember when we were fireflies
in mason jars
thinking each hole in the lid was freedom
right up until the moment
we found our way out.

(Andrea Gibson)

To me the freedom Andrea talks about is in my painting practice, creating worlds as diverse as books. So getting tired of that is not likely to happen.