Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Ernest Hemingway


Ernest Hemingway is another one of my literary inspirations. I just love his writings. For Whom The Bell Tolls is probably my favorite book of all time. It's haunting and hopeful and tragic. For those that know me, they may think that Hemingway would not be such a draw for me being that he tells many tales of hunters and how rough and tough they think they are and those kinds of people just really turn me off, but he wrote so much deeper than that. These stories weren't so much about hunting as they were about the inner struggles of mankind. There's a hunt going on, but not one that is on the surface. At least, that is how I see it.

Hemingway mastered the art of conversation, as well. Short sentences that were long on dialogue. He was a journalist who turned his adventures on the war fronts into literary ones. He lived quite a life in wildly exciting times. One filled with travel, women, booze and maybe just a little too much bravado. I think that that had a lot with his early exit from life, but who knows?

I've tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to paint or to illustrate like Hemingway wrote. It's a lofty goal and one that I may never succeed at, but I keep trying and I keep his words always in the back of my mind rolling around with Verne and Vonnegut.

He left us with many wonderful stories

5 comments:

Merisi said...

I think Hemingway would be pleased with your portrait!

Bruce said...

Thanks, Merisi! Although he might just kick my ass.

Chris "Chickenwing" Quigley said...

Another great portrait. And just like the Vonnegut, the use of watercolor is fantastic. In this case, the use of color to frame the hair and beard with negative space, adds so much dimension.
Keep up the good work, amigo!

Chris "Chickenwing" Quigley said...

(I meant to say frame the negative space of the hair and beard, herp derp. Think you know what I mean tho)

Bruce said...

Thanks, Q! I'm trying to be more spontaneous with these and trying to experiment some. More successful on some than others...