Stephen T, Pen & Ink and water color pencils, 2017

A simple post for Friday as I got back into a simple combination of pen and ink and water color pencils. The two portraits shared here are based on two men that come to the day program where I work. They happen to be housemates who have a very sweet relationship. Both are (mostly) gentle giants and I spend a lot of time in their company.

Knowing them as I do, I can tell you that neither one of these portraits is particularly accurate, in a photo-realistic way. I wasn’t really aiming for that. At first it was an excuse to use water color pencils again. But working on them I started to feel like I needed to bring out personalities, especially from a couple of men who exist on the margins of society; two men who may be easy to categorize in a glance but nevertheless are complex, unique individuals, worthy of being rendered.

If there is one thing I have learned by working in an environment with those we label as “disabled” it is to not judge a book by its cover. And never, ever discount the depth of the humanity you find in those eyes: behind them lies a world more vast than anyone truly understands.

CJ, Pen & Ink and Water color pencils, 2017