In The Court Of...

I've been listening to British group King Crimson for over 25 years. Several months ago I decided to do a cubist portrait of lead guitarist Robert Fripp. I did an image search of the web for reference material, finding nothing of value, but I did stumble upon the website of his sister Patricia Fripp. I e-mailed Ms. Fripp requesting reference material for the project, not really expecting an answer, but she did reply. After several e-mails, Ms. Fripp sent me photos of her brother and I begain work on the 1st rough draft.

Titled "Show Of Hands", this sketch was a test bed for the idea of rendering the final sketch on a collage of King Crimson cover art. I scavenged the album art images from the web and used a photo editor to stitch them together. I printed the collage art backdrop with my inkjet printer, and glued the images to pieces of scrap cardboard. Rendering the sketch was straight-forward as I had taken care to make sure the edges of the paper were securely glued to the cardboard foundation.

With an idea of the hand positions sucessfully executed, I started work on the second draft, titled "Face The Music". Construction of the collage backdrop was the same as the previous draft, and this rendering was without problems. I had been sending e-mails of the drafts to Ms. Fripp, and she seemed to be quite taken by the idea of incoporating the album art into the sketch. At this point I had decided to construct the final collage on a 30"x40" primed canvas, and add an extra layer of visual interest by scattering tablature across the surface.

I had fixed the collage to the canvas, and had begun the charcoal sketch when I was sidelined with the 1st sinus infection, then walking pneumonia and kidney stones. After I had recovered my strength from the 2nd sinus infection and bronchitis(following that), I e-mailed Ms. Fripp that I was ready to start back with the portrait.

I spent most of Monday working on the sketch in the yard, using the rough drafts to fill in the face and hands.

I finished up by adding the cubist shading around the edges. I brought the sketch into the living room and after scrutinizing the portrait throughout the night decided that something was terribly wrong with it. I couldn't figure out what, but I decided the sketch was a total failure. Tuesday morning I added the title, "Flash Point Of Reason" and played with the shading a bit, but I became increasingly more despondent. I sent Ms. Fripp a rather frantic e-mail, voicing my dismay, I probably sounded like a lunatic, but artists are given to bouts of eccentricity when things don't go as planned. It was at this point when I decided to seal the surface of the sketch, to prevent anymore repair work, or OVER-repairing as I am accustomed to doing. As I painted the gel medium over the sketch a miracle happened. The moisture from the gel pulled the printer ink to the surface, making the album covers and tabs more prominent. The added visual texture was exactly what was needed to balance the cubist shading, the piece was redeemed in my eyes.

To paraphrase a line from Isaac Asimov's Light Years, "No one likes to advertise their mistakes". That being said, the above picture was taken just before the application of the gel medium, while I was gripped by dispair. The photo below was taken after the gel medium had dried to transparency.

Ms. Fripp was to meet her brother Thursday and she was going to show him the pictures. I e-mail her the above picture Wednesday morning mentioning that Mr. Fripp could have the portrait if he liked it. Thus far I have yet to receive a reply from Ms. Fripp, or her brother.

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I received an e-mail from Ms. Fripp this morning(Mother's Day, May 11th), her brother enjoyed the photos, however he is too modest to have artwork of himself hanging in his home. I can relate to that, the only self-portrait I have, or will ever render is hidden in my "rejects" closet. Although the sketch looks exactly like me, I hate it, and would never hang it anywhere in my house. Anywho, I have offered "The Flash Point Of Reason" to Ms. Fripp as a gift, I would feel most honored to know that the portrait is hanging in a Fripp household, where it truely belongs. If I can frame the 2 seriously bowed rough drafts without destroying them, I will hang them in my office.