I do! I love art. In all its many forms. It makes my heart and head sing in the most beautiful way. Without it, I’d be heartbroken. It brings me peace, inspires me, makes my soul soar, and it gives me great joy.
Walking through Balboa Park a week or so ago, I saw the art museum’s big banner depicting a William-Adolphe Bouguereau painting. I immediately went back to 1993. I was still in Colorado at that time and my mom had come to visit with me and baby Mojo. During her visit, we went to museums — natural history for the Aztec exhibit, and the art museum, where we found “Two Girls” painting. I fell in love with it right away. I reminded me of my sisters for some reason and I was thrilled when I found it in the form of a poster in the gift shop. I bought the poster and my mom said she’d pay to have it framed. To this day, it hangs in a very prominent place in my home. I have art everywhere, including the bathroom. I can’t live without it.
Back in September, I wrote about an artist named Earl Klatzel. Some of you went to visit his site and immediately discovered a real treasure. Well, because you went to explore, Earl came over this way to see what was going on. He then emailed me. And since then, we’ve exchanged numerous emails. In one of the emails, he asked if he could use some photos to help him build a portrait of Honeyboy Edwards. I said yes without hesitation (really, I’m that easy when it comes to art, it seems). A couple weeks ago, he emailed me to let me know the painting was finished and gave me permission to share it.
About the only way to do this painting justice is to quote an early email between Earl and I because what I said about his other paintings is exactly what I would say about this one.
…the right facial expression and pose as a means of communicating the style and sound of his music [regarding Honeyboy Edwards]. You do that so brilliantly in your work already. I don’t know if it’s the colors you use or the obvious love you have for your subject, but you capture more than mere ambience. I’ve spent hours getting lost in your images. Each tells a story in a way that I can’t describe. There’s warmth, sorrow, joy, and even music ringing forth from your paintings that many others lack. Believe me, I’ve poured through thousands of photos of paintings, drawings, and photographs, and the majority are “nice” but fail to move me the way your work does. And that’s why I come back to it time and time again.
Like most Klatzel portraits, Honeyboy is not only shown in the foreground as we know him, but the background tells the story of how he lived as a younger man — the life that shaped him and led him to where he is now. Amazingly, Earl captures the essence of his subjects with such clarity that I can hear the music and feel the wooshing of air as Honeyboy plays his guitar.
My imagination is good, but not that good. Only art brings that out. And I am grateful and honored to have been a tiny part of the process. Thank you, Earl!
Can you imagine a world without art or music? I can’t. It’d be like a world without books, without the laughter of children, without birds singing, and dare I get so touchy-feely and say like a life without a single embrace. To me, that’s not living. That’s exsisting. And that is simply unacceptable to me.
So go on, go soak up some beauty. Feel the sun warm you, smell the richness of the soil, feel the dust on your skin, and hear the music in Earl’s work. Tell him I said hello!
