Cooper portrait in progress 3 - The soundtrack
- Kevin Roeckl
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
The “soundtrack” to a portrait….
Yesterday I shared how I read the client’s words about their loved one before I start on the eyes. Another thing that helps me connect with the loved one is the music I listen to in the studio.. Having the right music playing is very important while I’m working, the “soundtrack” to that individual, as it were. On Apple Music I have thousands of songs in a variety of custom playlists I’ve created. I choose the playlist that seems to fit the essence of the person I’m working on. There's a feature where, when I start a particular playlist, I can tell it to choose the songs at random from among that playlist. I am often amazed at the songs that come up when I’m working on eyes, as though that individual has chosen those particular songs and is sending them to me.
When I started on Cooper yesterday,
I chose the playlist that felt right to me, and instructed it to begin at random. The first song that came up seemed to be all about Cooper...his essence as Brandon and Rina conveyed it to me. “Golden in the Sun” by Kelly Boesch. Here’s a link to that song on YouTube. I felt like this was Cooper speaking in this song, about how much he loved his life.
Today as started on the left eye,
a song began at exactly that moment: “Hear You Me” by Jimmy Eat World. I had to fight back tears. I looked up the lyrics, it said “The song explores themes of grief, remembrance, and the desire to express gratitude to lost loved ones.” The part about expressing gratitude is what I “felt” as I was working on Cooper and that song was playing. I hope Cooper’s people can feel gratitude when they remember Cooper rather than the pain of grief. I felt that Cooper wanted them to know how grateful he is to them too, for giving him such a great life filled with love.
This is where I left off this afternoon. The eyes are finished and I’m working on the side of Cooper’s muzzle and neck. Next I’ll work forward to the nose. I picked out the colors for his nose and lips, which have a lot of pink and purple in them.
🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Flannel Grey” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 11 x 14 inches.
Portrait of Cooper
Commissioned by Rina Carrillo as a birthday gift for her partner Brandon Hedrick.
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