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One early afternoon, I got a call from
Jan and I became friends during my student days at Cleveland State. She enjoyed my antics, my flirting and my work. Even after graduating I stopped by her office to say hello whenever I visited the school. And so, though I was no longer a student, she thought that I would be ideal for the job, especially since portrait painting is a difficult commission that requires experience and a certain amount of creative flair.
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I called the number Jan had given me and scheduled a meeting with the client. We met at the Cleveland offices of
I listened carefully to the gentlemen gathered in the small office as they pitched ideas for the portrait. After much discussion they could not make up their mind and so they finally turned to me for advice. I candidly told them that none of their ideas seem propitious for a portrait, but that I could suggest a better solution –if they increased the budget for the job. After a round of nods they asked me what I had in mind. I told them I would do a
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Fortunately, the partners were prepared with a collection of photographs and I was able to further explain what I had in mind in detail. Fifteen minutes later all the specifications had been agreed upon, an agreement was signed, and an initial installment check issued. Now all I needed to do was work fast to finish the commission in three weeks time -half the time this kind of painting required! Exactly one day before the deadline I made delivery of the framed but still-wet painting. They loved it and I got my final pay check. Still, I confess that I would have loved to see Clark's reaction.
The final rendering of this oil painting is exactly what I had conceived during the initial meeting with the clients. The idea was so clear in my mind that I didn't need to do any sketching. The design had an ingenious composition that includes five portraits of Mr. Waite. In the central portrait he is sitting behind his desk, a very respectable representation of the position he held at Brush-Wellman Inc. On the wall behind him hung three framed pictures -also of him. The fifth portrait is on the desk, on a stretched piece of cardboard, upside-down from our point of view.
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Close-up detail of Clark the golfer and Clark the Elvis impersonator. All the images on this page are from Polariod photos. So, they are not the worse, but they are not the best either. But at least they give a good idea of what the painting looked like -except that it looked much, much better. |
There is a certain amount of humor infused into this piece. Mr. Waite was described to me as a typical
Mr. Waite was also an avid golfer -though probably not very good at it. But hey, I'm god with a brush so I painted him next to golf legend
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Clark as the Captain of the USS Constitution. In reproducing the original painting of the actual captain, named |
I was told that Mr. Waite also had a passion for boating and, now that he was retiring, would be spending more time on his boat. I happened to know a few "boat captains" and they were "kings of the world" when on their boats. I was sure that Clark felt the same. So I painted a replica of the portrait of
On his desk I added a mug with the logo of the