Senator Obama - by Nadine Hawbaker - Grimes, Iowa
I have diaried about Nadine before,
here. I guess her portrait of then Senator Obama made quite an impression on me. Nadine allowed me to use her portrait for fundraising during the campaign, and it made a difference.
Nadine painted the portrait (in watercolor) from a picture she had taken when then-Senator Obama was speaking in Adel, Iowa, in July 2007.
Mine is in the living room - it keeps me fired up every time I look at it.
Read on for "the rest of the story."
Nadine told me she had painted the background out of focus on purpose, because the future of our country was also "out of focus, and uncertain."
A picture of Nadine from a brochure she gave me is below -
I have mentioned that it would be fantastic if Nadine would be able to paint an official Portrait of President Obama, even though there is an official digital portrait available.
I was under the mis-conception that most if not all portraits of presidents were done in traditional oil, in a realistic portraiture style.
This is not the case.
Fo instance, there is the unfinished study of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with the artist's study of the hands of Roosevelt.
"This likeness is a study for a larger painting a sketch of which appears at the lower left commemorating Roosevelt meeting with wartime Allied leaders Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin at Yalta. The larger work was never completed, artist Douglas Chandor claimed, because Stalin refused to pose for it."
Portrait by Douglas Chandor , 1945 . NPG.68.49 , Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
Then there is the modernistic portrait of President Kennedy, by Elaine de Kooning.
Her painting style is characterized by a deft line coupled with realist compression and emotionally charged abandon. Her subjects ranged from early still life to portraiture, with purely abstract paintings executed during the fifties. She held guest professorships at Yale and Carnegie Mellon University and painted the portrait of John F. Kennedy from life, for the Truman Library. Kennedy was assassinated during the creation of this work, impacting on her to such a degree that she stopped painting for nearly a year. - Wikipedia
President Lincoln's portrait, by George P. A. Healy, is more like what I thought all portraits of presidents would be - a dark background with a pose that the subject could hold easily for long periods.
The original version of this portrait served as a template for artist George P. A. Healy's large painting, The Peacemakers, depicting Lincoln in consultation with three of his main military advisers at the end of the Civil War. But Healy recognized that the template made for a fine portrait in its own right. Eventually he did three replicas of it, including this one, commissioned by Lincoln's friend Elihu Washburne, and another one, once owned by Lincoln's son Robert, which hangs today in the White House.
Contrast the Lincoln portrait to Nadine's portrait - the light that suffuses Nadine's picture to me imparts the hope that she felt as she saw him speak that summer's day.
From Nadine's brochure -
"I am fascinated with nature in all forms, and attempt to convey my feeling for the natural beauty around me in my art."
Nadine gave me the original watercolor seen below as thanks for helping out in Grimes, Iowa. I was deeply touched by her generosity. I recently had the picture professionally framed and it brightens up our house!
"I am particularly interested in people and their interaction with one another. To capture a subtle nuance in gesture or a fleeting moment in time and share it through my work is my aim as an artist."
You may download a high resolution photo of Nadine's amazing portrait from my Dropbox.
Tue Apr 22, 2014 at 5:40 PM PT: Added the original high resolution file by Nadine.