Dan

So, today I saw a man drawing a portrait of a woman sitting in front of Toko Baru.  My friend Ben Bedel told me what I needed was to just go meet someone off the street this weekend.

As I was  watching this man draw, he turned and asked if I’d like him to draw me.  I said yes.  He was wrapping up for the night, and asked if I’d like to go back to his apartment.  I said yes.

That is how I ended up in the space in the pictures below.  Dan [Russel]’s studio (he is teaching himself to read, and his writing is a bit hard to read).  He is quite the character, and during this long posing session, he told me a lot about himself, and I shared just as much.  He has been clean for 29 years, but he said that he was one of the unfortunate few that had pot act as a gateway for them.  He’s been attending AA and someone suggested the Cincinnati Artists Club or something to that nature, and he’s been attending both for the past few years.  He went to art school in NY, but then his habits kept him from making money or keeping a job (or a girl) for very long.

He shared a lot of wisdom, and we talked a lot about my parents and their influence on me, and about school, and the Cincinnati area, and colours.

The portrait is beautiful, and he said I could have it free, but I know how much art supplies are and I saw his sign said “Free -$15” on the street.  So I gave him some cash and told him that I would like his phone number so that i could have him do portraits of my family and friends whenever I had the money.

What an awesome, surreal experience.