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An abstract portrait of author Hermann Hesse

March 24, 2014

All higher humor begins with ceasing to take oneself seriously.
– Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, painter, and author who won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature. I was visiting my brother once and noticed he had a book by Hesse with a photo of the novelist on the cover. Having my sketchbook with me, I took that as inspiration to draw this portrait of him.
A friend of mine saw my portrait and said “Yes, I recognized him immediately.” Hahaha, I’m sure!
We sketch artists can be reluctant to do a portrait of someone because we all have our own styles. You never know what someone else might think. Even when an artist has a wildly crazy style, what if the subject doesn’t think your cool painting of them makes them look good?
Example: I once had a family portrait painted by none other than the famous northwest artist Alden Mason (true story). And he suggested it, not me. I just wanted a painting by him. So at one point he was getting cold feet and he met up with me and was trying to back out – he was reluctant because what if we don’t think it looks like us? If you are familiar with Alden’s style, you will know that there’s no way that it will look anything like us! He went ahead and did the painting and it looks nothing like us and we love it, to finish that story.
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the drawing becomes a painting
Later I decided to create a painting based on the drawing. This is the result, acrylic on canvas measuring 30 x 40".
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I have read Siddhartha and Steppenwolf in the past and believe revisiting them once again may be in order. His books deal with ideas of spirituality, exploring your own authenticity, and understanding the self.
I recommend reading his books. Here are three of them.
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