Some Portraits

Preparatory Drawing for
Llorón
Graphite on paper
12" x 11"
2005

My younger brother inspires a lot of my portraiture work because he's my only sibling and he's almost always accessible. His facial expressions are extremely animated--we have this in common. Growing up, I always used him as a model. The idea behind this drawing is based on a picture of him at his 1st birthday party. Taken out of the birthday party context, the expression conveys a feeling of hopelessness, an almost fatigued loss of faith, that comes from abandonment. Bewilderment is a common part of the process of development. As we grow older, we become more independent and we assume more and more responsibilies. It feels good to grow up, for the most part. But it is easy to become overwhelmed by new responsibilities and a forced separation from those who previously nutured you. I wanted to emphasize the physically draining aspect of feeling abandoned. A child, namely one that can not speak, will manifest his emotions in a different way than an adult. Adults do not typically demonstrate these emotions for obvious reasons. My intention was to manifest, 2 dimensionally, the emotion of bewilderment. Personally, it was very satifiying to visually express that.














Llorón
Lithograph
12" x 12"
2005


In spanish, llorón, translates into "cry baby." My brother was known for being a big llorón. I enjoyed transforming the drawing into a print. The process allowed me to create a more serious portrait and convey the emotion more adequately. I think we can all identify with a crying child who can't control emotions as well as adults can. Adults tend to become masters of masking, or moderating, their emotions. This print is part of a 4 print series devoted to an investigation of how the face appears when a person is sad.