A few weeks ago, I had my portrait painted at a fundraiser event at a local arts center that my friend Sam is involved with. The artist was doing 15 minute portraits, and he was fascinating to watch at work. It was amazing to see how in such a short amount of time with what seemed to be just a few broad brush strokes he created completely finished paintings.
Here’s what mine turned out like:
My mother says she has my body, but the face doesn’t look like me, and my father has decided it doesn’t look anything like me. Here is a photo of me in a completely different pose and hairstyle that probably won’t help much as a point of comparison:
Perhaps proof that the portrait does not have more than a passing resemblance to yours truly is the fact that my friend Sam had picked up the painting from the arts center basement once it was dry and stuck it in the trunk of her car while she ran off to Europe for two weeks. Or at least she thought she had grabbed my portrait. When we got together last week and she opened up her trunk to give me the painting, I had to start laughing because whoever she had in her trunk, it definitely wasn’t me. We quickly went over to the arts center and executed a swift little switch, with hopefully no one being the wiser that their painting was in her trunk for two weeks.
In fact all this is a bit encouraging to me as a writer. Even though I write fiction and everything is made up there are times when certain fictional characters I have created might have been inspired by real life people. Despite those disclaimers that appear at the beginning of novels or that wonderfully snarky disclaimer at the beginning of the movie 500 Days of Summer, writers do sometimes draw characters from real life.
That said, I don’t usually specifically base any of my characters on one individual. I just borrow here and there from stuff I’ve observed to create completely fictional individuals. Still, I’ve worried that folks might read something I’ve written and thanks to some little detail see themselves in one of the characters.
Now, I am hoping that like my portrait, any finished work that I create will be so completely fictionalized that my original inspirations will be completely unrecognizable. Except, of course, for you, Jenny Beckman, whoever you are. (Sorry, that’s a 500 Days of Summer reference. You should watch it.)
My Books
Yeah, not much resemblance but pretty cool for 15 minutes!
500 days was certainly a quirky movie!
.-= Terry Lynn Johnson´s last blog ..Super-short Dogsledding Essay =-.
I like the painting and the photo. Different shades of reality just like in writing.
.-= Sam´s last blog ..Werewolves of New Jersey?!? =-.
Terry: If I tried to paint someone’s picture in fifteen minutes it probably wouldn’t be recognizable as a human being. Then again if I had fifteen days to do it, I don’t know if it would come out much better.
Sam: Good way of putting it. Spoken like a true artist.
Well put Sam, different shades of reality, I like that. When I create my characters they come from somewhere completely seperate from this world. Do I base some of their attributes on people I know? Maybe, sometimes, especially supporting characters. But are they ever based off someone, no, defintely not!
.-= HeatherM´s last blog ..All About ARC’s =-.
This is an amazing analogy Alissa! We’ve also borrowed from some people we’ve known in real life although I hope that they’ve been twisted and changed enough to be more like your portrait than an actual photograph!
.-= Lisa and Laura´s last blog ..Hair-mergency =-.
what an interesting post! you never know what you’ll get with portraits, i guess. it seems art is subjective across the board — no matter what niche you’re in.
i suppose that’s the truth with beauty, too, isn’t it?
thanks for sharing, love!
best of luck with everything!!
Lisa and Laura: I’m assuming that my character’s have been so fictionalized that folks I wasn’t writing about at all will recognize themselves!
T.H.: Absolutely true!