This is a story of an art project I worked on this year.
For me, this was not just a painting, but a somewhat big and tough Art project. This painting has given me one of the most exciting and wonderful experiences I have had working on a single painting. This project was challenging but one full of new experiences for me. It also gave me the opportunity to learn some new painting techniques. All this, even though this painting was not bigger than the ones I have done before, nor did it take many months to complete! Well, it was big in the sense that there was a lot of hidden pressure and expectations I set up for myself. I was going to paint a legend, this great and famous personality and I wanted to make sure I gave him my utmost respect as I worked on his portrait. And then, there was also my friend Karthik’s (who requested me to paint this portrait) unsaid expectations as he is a big fan of this legend. By the time I started on this, I too had become a fan of this personality and had started admiring him and his work.
One evening, I was chatting with Karthik and he told me the life story of this legend – who he was, how his professional life started, his goals for his company, and much more. That day I came to know of many fascinating facts about this great legend that I had not known earlier. Before this discussion, I had just known him as one of the founders of a big company. A week later, Karthik called me again and told me many more things about this legend and showed me photographs of his visit to the legend’s home. He continued to send me famous quotes by this legend and asked me to make a large size portrait of “his God”. At first, I was hesitant and told Karthik that I am very nervous about this, not my cup of tea since I have never made such a portrait this large before, etc. Karthik talked me through it and made me believe that I can do it, he said, he had complete faith that I can do justice to his God :). Karthik continued to send me positive quotes by this legend and day by day I was becoming a bigger fan. I got inspired to do something big in my life, to show that I have the courage and energy to make “a dent” in this world – just like this legend.
Discussed with my brother and sister about Karthik’s request and how I could make it look unique etc. After thinking about this a lot, I finally came up with a picture in my mind, and decided to use his company’s logo somewhere in this painting. My brother suggested thinking about something like adding a halo just like they do in the images of Indian Gods!
BTW, did I mention that to add to the adventure, I was going to paint this on a large (3 feet by 4 feet) canvas!
I made a rough sketch on an A3 size printout paper whose one side was used (I believe in reusing/recycling :)). Showed it to my brother as well as to Karthik and they liked the concept and the sketch.
Sketch on canvas with chalk. For paintings on canvas, I sketch the image with different colored chalk. After working on many paintings I found that sketching on canvas with a pencil is not a good idea because it is impossible to erase pencil marks from the canvas. After realizing this, I have started sketching with chalk on canvas, chalk marks can be easily erased with a piece of cloth.
I painted the background using black and white colors and dabbed a specific pattern with a sponge. This is to depict the mysterious aura surrounding the great personality.
The iconic T-shirt, the perfect circular glasses, and the first step of painting the face. And then perfecting the halo. I think it is becoming clear who he is now, but just keep reading… :)
The final touch up was the most difficult part for me. This included making every single big and small mustache and beard hair, bringing out the facial expression correctly, ensuring a proper balance of light and shadow on his face, etc. I did all this by using two brushes at the same time and by climbing on a stool because this canvas was bigger than my height!
Completing this portrait was really challenging and tough for me. I am saying this because before I could call this done, I spent 3 hours every afternoon for 4 days continuously just to get the perfect smile – a smile that was not too big or rude, it had to be neither funny nor cruel… I made numerous corrections to the smile. Finally, I was able to achieve it and I can’t tell you how relaxed I felt after that. It didn’t feel like anything beyond my reach though (as in like climbing Mount Everest or swimming in the ocean would have been :D). I was floating on clouds!
It was now time to introduce my huge art piece to everyone. I had been thinking about how and where to do that (which social media platform etc.). Then my brother and Karthik gave me the idea of unveiling it by Going Live on Facebook. I made a poster about the unveiling and created an event on Facebook. I was excited about others joining me for the reveal.
Here’s the video of my go Live session on Facebook: Unveiling my painting “The Visionary”
5th October’2020, 5 pm. I selected 5th October for the unveiling of this painting as suggested by Karthik because it is the death anniversary of that great legend and would be a homage to him. On 5th October, I was excited and tense at the same time (since this was my first “Live” appearance). That day, it felt like we were throwing a party or organizing a grand event, my siblings, as well as, Karthik was (virtually due to the pandemic) running here and there, trying various things to ensure everything is set up correctly. I wrote a speech, practiced it several times before going live, put a curtain on the painting so that before the unveiling no one would know whose portrait it is. I started with giving a short introduction to this legend and then raised the “curtain” to reveal my painting to everyone saying – “please get ready… and here is my painting of the legend Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple :)”. I talked briefly about the painting itself and then ended with taking a selfie with this huge painting of Steve Jobs.
An after-effect of my Facebook Live session was that Karthik, the biggest fan of Steve Jobs was so happy that he couldn’t control himself and while he was scared of me (just joking :P) asked me if he could come over to look at the painting, to “meet” Steve Jobs. He came over after some time and I gave him the painting wrapped up in newspapers. He unwrapped it, and for 5mins continued to look at it without blinking his eyes, as if he was meeting Steve Jobs in real life! He was so happy that he was not able to express his emotions. Karthik gifted me a book – Autobiography of Steve Jobs. Very happy to get this gift. Thank you, Karthik :)! Karthik loves the painting and I get a picture of the painting every day. It was great to see a photo of this painting on his room’s wall! He even created a short video about the painting.
I too have now become a fan of Steve Jobs and feel like I have started my journey toward “making a dent” :)…
