I Painted Her on a Beautiful Spring Day at Epoch Coffee

Sitting outside of Epoch last spring

Sitting outside of Epoch last spring

I painted her last spring at Epoch, and never posted it, for two reasons.  Technically, it’s not my best, and secondly, this painting makes me sad.  She is schizophrenic.  But, if I am going to be an honest documenter of Austin, she needs to be portrayed.  Anyone who has worked for Mobile Loaves and Fishes, or Caritas has seen these sad, beautiful people.

Here, she is sitting outside of Epoch Coffee on a wonderful, crisp Spring day.  She is smoothing out the folds of a booklet over and over again, and talking freely to the wind, to whomever, to herself.  May God Bless…

This entry was written by Lavanna Martin, posted on March 6, 2009 at 7:49 am, filed under alla prima, art, artist, Austin Hippie, guerrilla artist, guerrilla portraiture, Oil Sketches Live at Coffee Houses, painting people from life and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

7 Comments

  1. foliobonino
    Posted March 9, 2009 at 9:03 am | Permalink

    Oh Lavanna, life is “bittersweet” and indeed you have captured another slice of it. Thank you for your efforts to scribe the Austin I love.

    Reply
  2. Austin Web Design
    Posted April 25, 2009 at 11:28 am | Permalink

    This may not be your best but I still think it is a great painting! I can feel the emotion that was put into it. Keep up the great work.

    Reply
    • Lavanna Martin
      Posted May 8, 2009 at 1:43 pm | Permalink

      Hi, James.

      Thank you for saying that. Maybe we will run into each other at the coffee houses.

      ~Lavanna

      Reply
  3. barb martin
    Posted August 26, 2009 at 10:00 am | Permalink

    Lavanna,
    You have such a gift! I think this piece is beautiful and so fragile – She seems happy and yet so vulnerable – childlike but not “cute”. The dichotomy of life itself comes through for me in this image.
    I have always done candid sketches of family and friends and usually they discover me- It’s harder to not get caught in those situations. I love what you’re doing, and you are inspiring me to be braver and get out there more.
    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Lavanna Martin
      Posted August 26, 2009 at 1:13 pm | Permalink

      Hi, Barb.

      I always try and picture folks in their best light – capture what is good and true in them.
      Yes, you should try your hand at it! I am thinking about starting a separate blog that offers technical advice and instruction.

      Thank you,

      ~Lavanna

      Reply
  4. Winter
    Posted January 20, 2010 at 2:57 pm | Permalink

    This painting made me smile- I thought “oh lightness- happy” when I saw it. Love the talent . Perhaps you were capturing a fleeting moment-

    Reply

One Trackback

  1. By Favorite Austin Blogs 1 « Simple Gestures on July 14, 2009 at 8:09 am

    […] adds her own backstory to the encounters like the story about her schizoprenic subject in this post. I also enjoy watching people and guessing at their stories, watching their humanness when they are […]

Post a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*
*

%d bloggers like this: