- Portrait in Progress
It’s not every day that an artist asks to do your portrait. At least not mine. In my youth I did some informal modeling for my then husband, Bill LaRue, who is a photographer. But that was different. I was ‘convenient’ and often the subject of experiments with lighting and gray scales and other technical stuff. But Bruce Jones actually said that he’d like to draw me! I had an interesting face he said. I took that as a compliment and, as I’ve no doubt mentioned before, flattery goes a long way with me.
Bruce is my second cousin by marriage. My mother’s first cousin, Barbara, was married to Bruce’s uncle, Bronk. Bruce lives in California and I met him for the first time a few years back when he was here for a Williams Family Reunion. That event happens every year on Labor Day Weekend and this year the Official Elder of the Williams Family, Virginia Jones, gathered ahead of time with her three children – Kris, Bruce and Kathy (called “Cash” or maybe it’s “Kash”). They came visiting to our house on Friday Night.
They are a lively bunch and usually we are so busy laughing and talking about inconsequential ‘stuff’ that I don’t learn much about these ‘shirt-tail’ relatives. But Friday, Bruce and I got into an art discussion and I learned that he not only is an artist but that he especially likes doing portraits – drawing faces and in pencil. That’s when he asked if he could draw mine.
So we made a date to find a quiet place at Sunday’s reunion. If you know any of the Williams family, you know that “quiet place at the reunion” is an oxymoron of the first order. But, when Bruce arrived with sketch pad and pencil case in hand, he found us a spot at the end of Dorothy’s deck and he set to work.
Immediately, people came to see what was going on and to visit with me while Bruce worked. It sort of reminded me of that old rule ‘nature abhors a vacuum.’ At a Williams Reunion, anyone sitting quietly becomes a magnate of the greatest possible magnitude. There was a steady stream of folks coming to take a look and then to chat awhile.
Bruce told me that I could visit and change expressions but I had to keep my head pointed in the same direction – until he got to my mouth. Then I had to stay silent. “Three minutes,” he said. VERY difficult, but I managed. Afterward he told me that he’d only needed a minute and a half or so. “I just wanted to see if you could do it,” he laughed.
When all was said and done, Bruce actually gave me the portrait. I was thrilled. And I had to laugh when my cousin BG saw it and marched off to find Bruce saying, “I’m going to have him do one of me!” That underscored what I already knew – that it was good!
But does it look like me? Yes and no. I don’t think you would mistake it for anyone else. On the other hand, it isn’t exactly the Sydney that you might know right off. But, that’s what is wonderful about it. It’s the ‘me’ that an artist saw – my cousin Bruce-The-Artist! I love it and I’m going to take it for framing as soon as The Picture Attic opens tomorrow!
How very, very cool, Sydney. I hope I get to see it hanging in your house at a concert!