So. I adore Kurt Vonnegut. Actually, he's kind of my hero. I read
Breakfast of Champions back in 1999, when I was a senior in high school, and it changed my world. A number of years passed before I started digging into more of his work (dual majoring in English and History in college really cut into my "pleasure" reading time) but, by now, I've read most (though not all) of his work.
For those of you who haven't read any Vonnegut... you should. You don't have to read much... even a book or two will help you look at the world in a new light. I suggest starting with
Breakfast of Champions and then
A Man Without a Country (which is a memoir, rather than a novel). After that, I also highly recommend
Slaughterhouse Five (arguably his most well-known piece and the one from which I borrowed this post's title) and
Mother Night.
He just wished that people would take better care of each other and the planet. It's a pretty simple idea... be helpful... be kind... be compassionate... and his work shows both how essential that is to our happiness and how the very structure of our society makes it difficult to do so.
He was also a great supporter of the arts. Though this is a theme is several of his books, his view is probably phrased the most succinctly here:
“The arts are not a way of making a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
- Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
So. Because I adore him, and because his explicit permission to do it badly made me brave, I attempted to paint his portrait.
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| Kurt Vonnegut, 8x10 acrylic on birch board | | | | |
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It's not perfect... trust me, I know... I can pick out the flaws as well as anyone. However, I am unreasonably proud of it! You see, I almost never paint people. They are just too darn difficult for me. I screw up the proportions, the colors, everything... and forget about making a particular person. I didn't think I could do it, but here he is.
The painting is based on a photograph taken by his daughter, Edith Vonnegut. A brilliant artist, she is much more comfortable representing the human form than I shall ever be. If you explore her
website, you will understand why I admire her work... the people she creates are so free and expressive... a moment in life saved for all time. Comparatively, my work is incredibly rigid. I must learn to relax!
Her photo is published on the back cover of Armageddon in Retrospect, which is where I first saw (and fell in love with) it. Here are the two, side by side:
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| My painting beside the reference photo on the back cover of Armageddon in Retrospect. Original photo by Edith Vonnegut. |
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Really. Read some Vonnegut. You won't regret it.
