Amongst the Heroes

April 06, 2011

Amongst the Heroes

"Nick" amongst some other heroes


Explaining to Nick's parents, Bill and Jackie, how I designed "Nick"

It's been a few days since the Artist's Reception at the Scarab Club, in Detroit, MI, for the Working Class Heroes: A Tribute exhibition. I've been waiting for the photos from my daughter, Sarah - Nick's wife, since I didn't bring a camera. I knew she'd bring hers, she's a shutterbug.

It was a wonderful evening, seeing friends, meeting new people and other artists, talking about "Nick" and of course, the artwork... all the wonderful pieces paying tribute to the working class.

I am blessed and honored to have been able to paint "Nick" first of all and to be able to portray him exactly how I wanted to, so that the viewer could look at the painting and see this man for who he is, what he stands for and understand him immediately. No frills, just a hard working, forthright, honest man who has the IBEW union supporting him as he supports the brotherhood of the unions.

An interesting side note is the day Nick came to pose for me, his hard hat actually had that writing on it. It was something all the electrical workers on the job had done that day, written with a Sharpie, "Gov Walker = Rat" on their hard hats.