Urban Portrait

While setting up a craft show in Philadelphia, I happened upon a homeless man reclining on a broken chair. He nodded a quiet greeting, explaining he was “taking in the sun.” Thirty minutes of conversation later, I asked if I might draw him. “That would be fine,” he said.

With no drawing materials but the duct tape I had left the show to buy, I found a piece of scrap wood and “drew” a quick sketch with the tape on the board. Back at my studio, I knew I wanted to maintain the sense and atmosphere of our conversation, the decay of the surroundings, the slope of his shoulders, the tilt of his head, and most of all, his spirit.