As my work has taken me in directions other than portraiture, I have not posted here in some time. But considering who this person is, this is a portrait if it is anything.
He is Dr. Harry McWatters, credited with building British Colombia's wine industry into the internationally recognised industry it is today.
When I began painting a series of wine related images depicting the various people who go on wine tasting tours around here, two things occured to me: the series would be incomplete without a vintner, and as Canada's #1 vintner, this man is the perfect model for the role.
By happy coincidence, he lives in the same small berg where I reside. But I knew he would never have time for me. So I phoned him anyway and told him I had heard he had a sense of humor, then asked if there was any truth to the rumor. Sure, he said. Then I asked if he wanted to model the part in my collection, he laughed, and said sure again. After I revived from a dead faint, I set an appointment, at which I posed him on a chair in the middle of his winery during business hours, then laid down on the floor at his feet, and took reference photos.
This painting is the result.
The toughest challenge was his beard, which is white but cropped to 1/4", allowing the underlying skin to show through. How do you paint that in watercolor? By cross-hatching in paint. It worked like a charm.
In our wine industry, this fellow is powerful, as suggested by the tuxedo and the marble pedestal on which he stands. Yet he remains grounded and accesable, thus he is depicted with humble footwear. The hands reaching into the image from below are recognisable from the other paintings in the collection. There is a connoisseur, a scholar, a lush, and a sommelier.
The rest of the collection can be seen
here if anyone is interested. But be warned: laughter is contagious; there is no known cure for it at this time.
Will
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