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.
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
