Yani Sketching on the Porch

This portrait captures my friend Yani sitting on my porch sketching ideas for ceramic sculptures. We have been living in my hometown during the COVID-19 quarantine, which abruptly sent students across the country scrambling away from their schools. We have an artist commune of sorts here. Quarantine has not been an easy time to accomplish anything, let alone sculpting ceramics without a kiln to fire in. Yani’s focus and energy on her art have inspired me in staying creatively productive. I respect her hard work and perseverance, and this portrait is a way of expressing my admiration. 

I painted this portrait from life over the course of a month on days when weather permitted. March and April were filled with cold rainy days, which dragged the completion of this painting out. The best days for painting had intense sunlight. This light was constantly changing, but there were a few constants: her pink shirt reflected onto her skin, warming the shadows; sunshine created brilliant orange lights in her black hair. 

I have painted on my porch many times in the past, but due to a lack of space during quarantine, it has become my main studio space, as well as Yani’s. In the painting you can see the upright metal supports of the porch roof which include decorative S-shaped scrollwork. That design is common throughout Kentucky. As a child, I often climbed and hung on these fixtures for fun. The memories embedded within these fixtures give me nostalgia and add a nice frame and rhythm to the composition.