transatlanticism

I'm pretty sure that, when this shoot got booked, the photographer was not thinking they'd end up working with Adam in a downpour, but there's something about September in NYC that seems to prompt the weather to bestow it's wet blessings upon him, adding it's own touch in addition to that of the clothing and hair stylists. 

That damp caress was responsible for most of the joys and agonies of painting this piece. It was a joy to render the drops caught in his hair, eyebrows, lashes, and even his mustache, as well as the soft star strewn twinkle of the fur collar to the jacket; but was also a fairly tedious agony to accurately capture the way the water spangles the textured leather. I don't regret it, but do think that in future efforts I will be more careful about when I choose to be that faithful to a reference.

As for the expression on Adam's face, I've had a good long (so very long) while to look at it very carefully, but even after all this time I'm still not quite sure what to make of it. It feels stern thanks to the way he's pulled his eyebrows together a little, but the rest of his expression is very carefully blank. He's carrying very little tension in his lips; the tiny wrinkles, especially on his lower lip, would be smoothed if he were pulling at the corners, or more exaggerated if he was pursing them in a pout. The corners of his eyes are completely relaxed, his cheeks showing nary a dimple or crinkle; there's no hidden smile in this expression.

I think this is his listening face; one fan who was lucky enough to be in the same audience as Adam at an arts event saw him engaged in conversation with people around him during the intermission, and described his habit of furrowing his brow in concentration while listening to someone speak. It's his way of signalling that he's paying close attention, but they did say that it can come across as rather intimidating when you were subject to the full force of this particular gaze.

I suspect that's part of what's at play here, as well as possibly some direction from the photographer along the lines of "glance over there with a serious expression on your face."

Or maybe he was just hoping to get to towel some of that rain off.

Photo used for reference was taken by Norman Jean Roy on 18 Sep 2017 for the 1 Dec 2017 edition of Esquire magazine.

About 83 hours of painting time, which was more than twice as long as my previous record of 40 hours that was held by AD 131. I spent 37 hours just on the leather jacket's textures alone.