Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Artistry at its best

Could he possibly be a retired bank teller? It is extremely unlikely. He looks like a person of the land. He has seen fire and flood, pestilence, droughts, hard times and good times. His written sentence punctuation is probably poor. His knowledge is great and his telling of tales even better. He indulged in the excesses of life and pulled himself back. His life is writ upon his face, a life well lived.

So this must be a photo. I doubt any artist could paint this picture. Scenery photography is of course great, but capturing a face like this takes a magical camera operator effort. 

But painting or photo, I don't know. 

Later edit: Pencil drawing by 16 year old Irish artist Shania McDonagh.

26 comments:

  1. It's often hard to tell! Some artists are so hyper-realist that their drawings look like photos. In any case, that is quite a face!

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    1. Steve, as you will see above, it is pencil drawing. Rather amazing really.

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  2. Some photo realism artists could capture this face - with the help of photography to refer to. It does indeed look like a well lived face. A face that holds a LOT of stories.

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    1. EC, extra interesting after I found out the artist is Irish and probably the subject too.

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  3. As long as the message is delivered to audience, the medium does not matter

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    1. True Roentare but it interesting to know the medium.

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  4. A happy face that belongs to a man who has lived life in the present. Has let the bad subside in the brain and lived for the happy and for love. That's what I see anyway!

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  5. The Stalker….isn’t it fantastic? Were you able to get tickets for the Rone exhibition? absolutely brilliant….By the way Andrew, we had an easy drive over the Westgate and around to SouthYarra, though some of the crossover roads were absolutely chock a block… Toorak Road had less traffic than usual…guess people have decided it’s not worth the effort. Country SA and VIC stunning….the rains have done wonders in those regions Good wishes for NY

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    1. Stalker, the exhibition slipped my mind to be truthful. I wish you blogged and could describe your trip in greater detail. Happy 2023 to you.

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  6. That is an amazing face. The first thing that came to mind before I even found out it was a drawing was that it could have been a bloke that I treated for breast cancer. He was a road builder. Real rough diamond with a heart of gold. What a cruel disease for a bloke like that to get.
    That young lady is very talented.

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    1. Caro, male breast cancer is something I would not know how to deal with. I don't know anyone who has had the disease. Life can be crap on so many different levels.

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    2. It is not as uncommon as many would think but it isn't talked about. Sadly by the time it is diagnosed it has often spread.

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    3. Should I examine myself for lumps? There ain't much there.

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  7. What a beautiful drawing of a beautiful man.

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  8. A lived-in face for sure, with each line and wrinkle telling a tale. an interesting face. I find old faces like that quite beautiful to look at and often wonder what their lives have been like.

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    1. River, I wonder about the same. Lots of sunshine most have been involved although if he is in Ireland...

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  9. I assuming that man posed for that drawing. I can't believe the artist did it strictly from memory.

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    1. Kirk, I should think so, or drawn from a photo.

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  10. Oh my, that lass is brilliant. I wonder if the face belongs to someone she knows?... Later, I don't think so. It's the late Coleman Coyne from Connemara who was a fisherman and seaweed harvester.

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    1. Thanks for the further information YP. Seaweed harvesting indeed.

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