Remembering Senator Arlen Specter

           When I first got the call to paint Senator Specter for Yale Law School, I was instantly thrilled.  Like many Americans who enjoy politics and C-Span TV, I had long known of the famous Senator from Pennsylvania from his numerous interviews, Senate floor speeches, debates, and magazine and newspaper articles. The longest serving United States Senator from his the keystone state, he was a powerhouse of intellect and a person of unwavering determination.  “Snarlin Arlen” as he was known by reputation caused more than a touch of reservation in me. I hoped I could connect with this formidable senator in a way that would help me create a lasting portrait of the man.  Happily, throughout the commission, I was surprised again and again by Senator Specter’s interest in the portrait’s success and his personal thoughtfulness and loyalty. 

Our initial introduction was not as fruitful as I had hoped.  We met for dinner with his wife in a particularly loud restaurant.  Throughout dinner we all struggled to hear each other’s conversations and were interrupted again and again by passers by who wanted to speak to the Senator.  Meaningful conversation proved impossible.  We then walked to a local theater where, finally… we engaged in a bit of small talk.  I enjoyed the play, but at the intermission the Senator said he would need to leave early.  He had a busy Sunday morning with an interview on a nationally syndicated television news show, a brunch at his home with a few supporters and then posing for me the rest of the afternoon.  Had you asked me how the evening had gone I would have confessed I was not sure I had gained much for my portrait.  Every moment with my sitter is research and this night, although a privilege--- had not produced for me an accurate impression of the man. The next day would prove to be totally the opposite.

I caught the interview on television the following morning, and then headed to the Specter’s attractive home just outside Philadelphia. There I found Senator Specter had arrived before me and had already begun speaking with several couples who had come for a Q&A brunch event.  He was beginning a campaign that would last more than two years ending in his switching parties and ultimately his first defeat in 30 years of service to the people of Pennsylvania.

After the last guest left, Senator Specter asked me out to his patio sun porch and inquired as to just what I needed for our time together.  He was a bit short in conversation and said “Ok, ok—let’s get on with it.  I don’t have a lot of time.”  So, I got to it--- beginning my photo shoot and discussing the portrait. The painting was for Yale Law School and had been commissioned by some friends to celebrate his 50^th anniversary since graduating from Yale Law.  As we worked, he had an intensity and focus that seemed perfectly right for his reputation.

During the process, Senator Specter said “I saw a portrait of the mayor of Philadelphia in the late 1950’s and always liked the pose.  He was looking down, arms crossed.  What do you think about that kind of pose for me?”  I wanted to seize the moment because I was in perfect agreement with him.  I had been studying the Senator on television while the floor of the Senate and had seen him in this pose before. “The pose is PERFECT for you, Senator!”  I said--- and reinforced, “I have been watching you give floor speeches at the Senate.  You strike that pose many times in a thoughtful, meaningful stance---glasses in hand and glancing down just before you make a point.  It will show you as poised, reflective,  a man of exceptional, discerning intelligence----one of the greatest minds in the Senate in the last 100 years!”.  With that, he looked at me intently with the slightest hint of a grin and said, “What’s this business about the last 100 years?”  “You’re right Senator!”  I replied as quickly as I could form the words. “What was I thinking? I should have said in the last 220 years!”  Putting his hand firmly on my shoulder and looking me square in the eye he smiled and said, “We’re going to get along just fine.”  And so we did.  From that time on, the moments and the memories stack up a mile high.  

The rest of the afternoon included a long and relaxed lunch prepared by Mrs. Specter. While sitting at their dinning room table, we swapped fun stories about people I had painted that he knew, his love of old slap stick comedy movies with the Marx Brothers,  their travels around the world.  Late in the day he shared with me his scrap albums covering years of his career from a prosecutor in Philadelphia in the late 1950's to his run for President, to his time in the Senate.  He told me stories in great detail of his time on the Warren Commission following the assassination of President Kennedy, meetings with Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King.  What had started off as a clipped series of events eventually slid into a relaxing Sunday afternoon revealing a true picture of the man I was to paint.  

In the months to follow, the Senator and Mrs. Specter visited my Nashville studio.  We completed his portrait and enjoyed an amazing unveiling in the Constitution Center in Philadelphia for hundreds of his supporters, family and friends. Since that time I have seen the Senator on many occasions. Most recently this spring at a portrait unveiling.  He always took time to chat.  Even commenting on my hair style change and comparing to his own “loss of curls” in recent years.  He and Mrs. Specter looked great and he was headed out to do an all out blitz on his newly published book. 

I can honestly say that he has had a special and lasting impact on me.  Some of it is unexplainable and may be attributable to his own unique skill as a politician---but, some of it I know is my sheer respect and admiration of him.  Watching him fight his numerous bouts with cancer, all the while still getting up every day, shoes polished, tie perfectly knotted and pocket square neatly folded the same way for more than 30 years. With his devoted work ethic never missing a day on the floor of the Senate during his treatments.  Always intently focused on the issues of the day and how he could make a difference, he was a tenacious and impressively unique guy in every way.  I will always be grateful and  honored that I had the opportunity to paint his portrait and know this remarkable man.

Portrait of an Artist

Late one evening last week I sat in a small room I had rented for the night in the historic National Arts Club just off Gramercy Park. The venerable old club is one of my favorite stops in New York City and I treasure my membership there. It is filled with paintings, antique furniture, and a remarkable collection of artifacts both decorative and exotic---it's a magical place. No matter how often I visit, it has the effect of stepping through the wardrobe, similar to a C.S. Lewis novel, into another world removed from the modern city just outside it's interior.

This night, I had stopped for a brief stay as I traveled back home from an exciting journey to Paris.  As the clock struck 11:00 pm, I sat comfortably nestled in an old armchair near a well-worn fireplace, the room dimly lit, and the air scented with a combination of stale chimney smoke and a newly varnished wood floor. Across from me--- in a twin chair to my own--- sat my mentor, hero, and friend Everett Raymond Kinstler. America's preeminent painter of portraits had dropped by for a visit and for the last two hours we had shared stories of clients, travels, and our favorite topic of all---painting.

Nearly synonymous with the National Arts Club, Mr. Kinstler has lived and worked there for more than six decades. As usual, throughout the conversation I was hanging on his every word.  I listened intently to the stories and wisdom of a man who has made art his life, now enjoying his seventieth year as a full time artist.  Yes, 70 years!

It is never lost on me how incredibly lucky I am, "blessed" really (a word Mr. Kinstler prefers over "luck") to spend time with this amazingly talented man and to have been learning "at the feet" of a master for the past 20 years.  

As we sat and talked, I began to reflect on a recent portrait I had painted of him.  I was making one more pass, one more series of observations before I counted my picture officially finished.  As is normal for me, I began to worry if I had captured something of the man on canvas.  I had felt this way before on many portraits, but it was especially true of this one.  Not only because I was portraying a person who means so much to me both personally and professionally, but also simply because his personality is so very large, so intense, so focused that my small 24"x30" canvas simply paled in comparison even before I placed the first brush stroke on it’s surface.

Unaware that my mind had turned for a moment to despair about my picture of him, Mr. Kinstler began to reflect on his own work in the studio and the restlessness that he felt over a recent, nearly completed portrait.  He had been pushing himself, digging and digging at the painting as he attempted to wring out every ounce of his skill and powers of observation onto the canvas.  The last sitting with the client was to take place in the studio the following morning and he was re-evaluating his specific goals for the portrait and his last opportunity to review the subject from life.

It suddenly occurred to me that this was the state of most artists no matter how long they had been working!  After more than two thousand commissioned portraits and countless other pictures in his lifetime as an artist, Mr. Kinstler, like all of us, is still looking for something more.  It reminded me of a quote I had read on my trip across the Atlantic only a few days before in the wonderful Hart-Davis biography of Phillip de Laszo.  At that moment, I pulled out the book from my bag, found the passage, and read the following lines aloud to my great mentor.  As I read, he gazed at the floor and shook his head slowly in agreement. 

Writing in her diary, Mrs. de Laszlo recorded in part:

"Yesterday he {Phillip de Laszlo} finished the portrait of the Speaker. He is not quite pleased with it. His art makes him suffer so, really much more than I realise....Always this dissatisfaction.... If a picture is still in progress, one is always hopeful. How little I can do to help an artist to suffer less... he would not be so great [an artist) if he suffered less."

No matter how long I work at my portrait of Mr. Kinstler, or any of my pictures for that matter, I realize I am never going to be completely "satisfied".  In the end, it is actually quite healthy--- this state of unrest.  Only those who feel contentment with their work will cease to learn and grow.  As the great illustrator James Montgomery Flagg famously said, "Once you have arrived, you have no place else to go!".

It was getting very late and it was time for Mr. Kinstler to return to his studio apartment and get some well-deserved rest.  His packed schedule began early the following morning and would have stressed any artist half his age.  As we said goodnight we gave each other a solid hug complete with affirming pats on the back.  At that very moment I decided my picture was finished or as Robert Henri said, I had found "a good place to stop." The portrait is a memory, a record of this time and this place in my life as an artist and a protégé of Everett Raymond Kinstler.

As I watched him slowly walk down the hall, I knew that tomorrow we'd both go at it again with every picture in our studio.  We will step into the ring, put on the gloves and duke it out with each new canvas.  I smiled as one of my favorite Kinstler scenes came to mind---performed for me many times before---with a pronounced stagger in my direction, leaning onto my nearest shoulder and saying with a gasp and a grin... "What round is it champ?!!".    

Michael Shane Neal, Artist

15 May 2012

Giclee prints on canvas of Mr. Kinstler's portrait by Michael Shane Neal will be available for sale by the Portrait Society of America.  The limited edition prints will initially be offered to participants at the 2012 Art of the Portrait Conference in Philadelphia, Pa. along with a DVD video presentation of the start of the portrait recorded live on stage in 2011.  Order information coming later this week!

"A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats"

Last night, a dear friend and extraordinary man Gordon Wetmore passed away after a brief illness. A prolific and talented artist, he also founded the Portrait Society of America. Gordon was a man of imposing physical stature with a gentle, kind spirit.

For over 40 years he has successfully painted hundreds of portraits for families, business and institutions. He also illustrated several books, and his paintings from his travels represented a diary of Gordon's love of the world around him.

His creation of the PSA will also be a large part of his legacy and will continue to impact many lives as well. It has grown to over 3,000 members strong. It's annual portrait competition is one of the most recognized in the world and important in advancing the field of fine art figure and portraiture. He had a strong belief that together we had the power to grow as artists by sharing with each other. "A rising tide lifts all boats" he often said to me.

I have known Gordon for most of my career. I will miss his phone calls, his visits, and hearing his latest ideas for how to grow and strengthen appreciation for fine art. His encouragement and belief in me as an artist has meant so much. Winning the 2001 Grand Prize at the Portrait Society competition literally changed my career in more ways than I can begin to count. For these things and more I will forever be grateful.

A few years ago, I received an envelope from Gordon with a small printed quote inside. He said one of his daughters had shared a similar one with him. I taped it next to my computer and treasure it to this day. It reads:

"The Lord...has filled him with the spirit of God...and knowledge to design artistic works...and he has put in his heart the ability to teach." Exodus 35:30-34

Certainly a beautiful description of Gordon. He loved art, people, his family, but most importantly he loved the Lord. He was a devoted Christian who lived his life in a way that always pointed directly to his faith and his heavenly Father. I'll miss my friend... a fine artist, but even more importantly, a fine human being.

Paul Stevens • A lesson in Achievement

One of my favorite parts of my job as an artist is meeting THE most fascinating people. Not only are you working to capture their outer likeness on canvas, you are also getting to know them as human beings... their unique, individual character and personality.

I just delivered a head portrait of a remarkably talented man. Once assistant to President Reagan for National Security Affairs, Mr. Stevens is now President of the national association of US investment companies. He also received the highest civilian honor from the Defense Department for distinguished public service. Oh, did I mention he also argued a case before the Supreme Court!

Well, if that was not enough this husband and father of four is also a author. I recently was introduced to his two "common place" books. I was not familiar with this genre of literature! The dictionary defines it as a "personal notebook of literary excerpts: used for copying down quotations and memorable passages from other books"

I just finished his second common place book entitled "Leaky Ships". You can find it on Amazon.com:

(http://www.amazon.com/Leaky-Ships-Paul-Schott-Stevens/dp/B002RH7BAG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1309800980&sr=8-3)

For those of you who love little pieces of interesting or obscure information, a bit of poetry, or a not so well known turn of phrase.... check out this wonderful collection by a truly fascinating guy.

All I Nose about the Nose--A Few Tips

(Actor John Barrymore • Collection of the Players Club; NYC, NY)

I have always found painting noses to be so fun! They are incredibly different from person to person. No two noses are the same. Getting the structure of the nose is so important. Understanding that there are planes is invaluable. The goal of the artist is to create a nose on the face that feels three-dimensional. The nose should feel as though it comes forward from the face.

The nose is basically a combination of a box and a ball. The bridge of the nose is more box like in structure and the tip of the nose is more ball like. The forms on the bridge a cleaner and distinct like the planes of a box, the ball or tip or the nose is subtler in form like that of a ball.

I try and look at the nose as a series of planes. Identifying the side planes, the top plane, the tip of the nose and the plane that drops under the tip of the nose as it descends to the mouth area of the face. Usually the side planes of the nose on either side can be a distinctly different value that the cheek plane. Sometimes this can be very subtle, especially in the light and may only change in temperature not value.

I think nostrils are often painted too dark and lacking in color or temperature in many portraits. Look for the warmth in the nostril, especially on the lit side. Sometimes the nostril on the side with the cast shadow can be painted as one, showing no distinct separation between the nostril and the cast shadow, which is usually this cast shadow, is very warm. Look to Sargent for examples.

The nose is generally quite warm in temperature as a whole. This is obviously truer in lighter complexions, but can often be seen even in darker skin as well. The tip of the nose can be very warm in some people.

Follow the highlight as it comes down the bridge of the nose. It sits just on the edge of the top plane and the side plane of the nose closest to the light. It runs down the nose, following the edge of the plane, then breaks just before it gets to the ball of the nose. Then just below the long highlight, there is a highlight on the ball of the nose. These highlights are most often a lighter version of the main color of the nose. But not pure white!

Study noses. Make sketches both in oil and pencil. Try a variety of lighting conditions of the nose to gain a better understanding of its structure and unique qualities. They are fun, unique and a great lesson in structure, volume, temperature and edges.

“Is painting simply an imitative art? continued...

(Figure of woman: by Everett Raymond Kinstler)

(Figure of child: by Dawn E. Whitelaw)

My post yesterday was a portion of an article I wrote about a" tradition of painting" and some of it's qualities/principles. I shortened it considerably, but here it is in it's entirety. Thanks for all the comments and interest!

While in college taking my first painting class with my teacher, Dawn Whitelaw, an accomplished and gifted artist, she suggested that I go to the library and pick up a book on Everett Raymond Kinstler. She explained that I would be attracted to his work with my natural inclination toward a “brushy” style. Little did I know that my interest and study of Mr. Kinstler’s paintings would spark a long journey of discovery, finding many great artists along the way.

There are many styles and techniques in the world of painting. As John Singer Sargent once said, “There are many roads to Rome. One may get there by a method or no method at all.” John Johansen (a student of Frank Duveneck), one of Mr. Kinstler’s teachers always made a point to tell his students that he was teaching “a way of painting, not the way.” The style of painting that has interested me the most has been called, for lack of better terms, bravura painting, direct painting, painting with impasto, even the very intimidating ala prima painting. These are all adequately descriptive titles, but I like the title “brushy realism.”

There are many artists associated with this style, such as 18^th century artists Diego Velasquez and Frans Hals. Their work has made an impact that has lasted for generations. Other artists directly associated with this painterly lineage are 19^th and 20^th century painters such as Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), Carolus Duran (1837-1917), Édouard Manet (1832-1883), John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), Anders Zorn (1860-1920), Robert Henri (1865-1929), Gordon Stevenson (1892-1982), and the more contemporary Everett Raymond Kinstler (1926-), Cedric Egeli (1936-), Scott Burdick (1967-), Dan Gerhartz (1965-) or Bettina Steinke (1913-1999), to name only a very few.

These painters are or were always given to painting with a broad brush, squinting to see the simple effect, editing wherever possible and creating a luminous color from a limited palette. They created not only masterful works of art, but also the illusion of space and light. Selecting visual information and not simply recording information is the object of every artist in this school of painting. The goal is to create the illusion of reality and to give the viewer a rich and almost intoxicating enjoyment of the painting style itself.

As a lover of history I have long had a great desire to understand the past as a way of exploring the future. I am fascinated by the continuity of information through the centuries that has affected the style of painting that is my passion. This information has been passed down from teacher to student with great clarity for generations.

Recently, I discovered a Harper’s Weekly article on the teaching of Carolus Duran written in the 1880’s. A student was enrolled in Duran’s classes in Paris and carefully recorded the critique sessions held in the studio each week. As I read the article, I was reading the words of Duran as he spoke to his students. But as I read, I could hear the same words coming from my own teacher, Everett Raymond Kinstler. I was amazed at how many of these same ideas and principles had survived intact for over 100 years. I would not hesitate to suggest that these recede in time beyond Duran to the days of Diego Velazquez.

In speaking to his students in review of their work, Duran took time to expound upon painting and working as an artist. In one such lesson, Mr. Duran speaks on the value of individuality with respect to tradition, warning his students to not merely copy the great artists of the past.

Duran states, “But what are we all but the result of tradition? –only we ought to be free to choose in the direction that agrees with our aspirations, and not have imposed upon us those of another man, however great he my be.” He continues, “Art lives only by individual expression. Where would we be if the great masters of all times had only looked to the past—they who not only prepared, but made the future?”

There is no doubt we stand firmly on the shoulders of the great artists of the past, as Duran states, but we should not feel compelled to merely imitate their style. While I want to learn as much as I can from them, I also want to experiment in my own work and paint what "I" see the way "I" see it.

Duran continued:

“Is painting simply an imitative art? No; it is, above all, an art of expression. There is not one of the great masters of whom this is not true. Even the masters who were most absorbed by outward beauty, being influenced by it according to the sensitiveness of their natures, understood that they neither could nor ought to reproduce anything but the spirit of nature either in form or color. Thus it happens that these masters have interpreted nature, and not given a literal translation. This interpretation is precisely what makes the personality of each of them. Without this individual point of view there can be no really original work.”

When I study many of the great, bold brush painters from centuries past to those alive today I consistently am interested in one ever present quality; their ability to edit or interpret nature, not simply copy it and their ability to capture the essential character of their subjects is often extraordinary. All painted from life.

This is a characteristic I hope to express in my own work. An “art of expression” free from distractions that sometimes come today from the overdependence on technology. In today’s world with the advancements of digital photography, computer screens and their ever-present seductive qualities of convenience, I must beware of the tendency to rely on my reactions to a photograph instead of my reaction to reality. Technology has the powerful force of eliminating the discovery process that should occur in the creation of a painting. As I have heard from my teachers before, with photos you almost see an end before you begin! We should continue to interact with and react to with our subjects, always interpreting what we see from our own unique perspectives.

Is painting simply an imitative art?

Recently, I discovered a Harper’s Weekly article on the teaching of Carolus Duran written in the 1880’s. A student was enrolled in Duran’s classes in Paris and carefully recorded the critique sessions held in the studio each week. As I read the article, I was reading the words of Duran as he spoke to his students. But as I read, I could hear the same words coming from my own teacher, Everett Raymond Kinstler. I was amazed at how many of these same ideas and principles had survived intact for over 100 years. I would not hesitate to suggest that these recede in time beyond Duran to the days of Diego Velazquez.

Duran states:

“Is painting simply an imitative art? No; it is, above all, an art of expression. There is not one of the great masters of whom this is not true. Even the masters who were most absorbed by outward beauty, being influenced by it according to the sensitiveness of their natures, understood that they neither could nor ought to reproduce anything but the spirit of nature either in form or color. Thus it happens that these masters have interpreted nature, and not given a literal translation. This interpretation is precisely what makes the personality of each of them. Without this individual point of view there can be no really original work.”

In today’s world with the advancements of technology and their seductive qualities, we must all beware of a tendency to rely too much on a reaction to photographs--- rather than a reaction to our reality. Technology has the powerful force of eliminating the discovery process that should occur in painting. We should continue to interact with and react to our subjects as much as possible, always interpreting what we see from our own unique perspectives.