“Hand it over, sister.”
Last year, a stranger emailed me out of the blue, showered me with compliments about my work, and wrapped up the message with “hand it over, sister.” By “it,” he meant a You Bag with his face on it. Normally I would have mulled over the proposition some, but, considering that the stranger was none other than Kevin Cook, I acquiesced immediately, imposing just one small condition: he would have to let me paint both his faces.
Kevin is sometimes better known as Poison Waters.
When I met with Poison to do her photo session and interview, I’d seen her perform on a handful of occasions—at various events that she had MCed and one time in a play about a drag show (very meta).
But I had never seen her at Darcelle’s until last week when I went with my family to take in the show.
Poison was always charming, but never more so than at Darcelle’s where she was especially true to her tag line: she isn’t just a personality, she’s an experience!
So it’s not a surprise that, as I was working on this portrait of Poison, something a little out of the ordinary happened.
When I re-enter a painting after I’ve put it aside for a few days or even a few hours, there’s a voice in my head that talks to me about what’s working in the composition and what isn’t.
Often, it’s my own voice that’s talking to me.
But usually it’s as though I’m in conversation with the subject, discussing a neck that’s too skinny or ways to fix other deformations that happen on the way to a likeness.
These conversations are partly technical—evaluating the progress of the painting—and partly a matter of keeping the subject’s who-ness present as I work.
After all, it’s not just about getting the features right: the feel of the person is just as important.
Imagining the way the subject speaks and how she-he might react to the work is useful (as opposed to just plain crazy).
The unusual thing about Poison’s portrait was that the subject positively took over these conversations. She was relentless in her tips and pointers…and encouragement.
Gwenn Seemel
Poison Waters
2009
acrylic on one side of a canvas patchwork bag
13 x 20 inches
(detail below)
There’s just something about Poison that makes her particularly easy to keep in mind…!
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CATEGORIES: - Process images - Practice - You Bag -
