Painting Churchmen

Francis Bacon, 'Study for Portrait II' (1956).

I completely forgot about Francis Bacon.

I like painters who paint churchmen.  Botero does too - paints churchmen - although I'm not sure if he likes people who do - paint churchmen.  Michelangelo painted churchmen into his fresco of the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel - so I'm sure he got a kick out of that.  There are many examples of churchmen in art.  I should say church people, because sometimes nuns are painted too.  I painted a nun in the style of Botero once - she is a real nun.  Her sisters in religion accused me of being mean for painting her like that - even though the sister was actually very fat.  They assumed I was being cruel, when in reality I considered the sister my friend and wanted to capture her likeness as perfectly as possible.  It seems to me rash judgement happens when people are convinced of their own self-righteousness.  It happens to all of us.

This morning I came across a photo of Sophia Loren's home interior and noted a Francis Bacon painting of a bishop, and I suddenly remembered I liked Bacon's work very much.

Whenever I paint churchmen, I am always surprised how much I grow to like them and respect them even more that I did when I first began the painting.  Painting - for me at least - is similar to praying - one can no longer dislike the person one is praying for, it is the same in painting.  Like I said - at least for me.

My uncle Jim always painted baseball players and soldiers.  He's very old now and has Alzheimer's.

The End.