.. Huddie Ledbetter, aka Leadbelly... powerful singer and great figure of the blues...
playing a 12-string Stella loud and clear...
.. in the pastel above we can imagine him playing John Hardy: he recorded a version of this song with a button accordion... something strange and rather hypnotic...
listen to an extract of John Hardy by Leadbelly...
.. Guess it began with that sketch I made from a Leadbelly cover... the drawing seemed ok and people around me found it cool. .. My slow brain had finally made the connection between two things I really love: Blues and drawing... .. So I went on trying to make portraits of those men who's music had brought me so much fun, looking for photographs and everything I could find about early blues,with the will to bring back in my sketches the spirit of those times. .. Later on, as I had the opportunity to show my work in a gallery, I came to painting and started with some acrylics on wood... .. I still keep on that way, trying to get some life out of my brushes (it doesn't work everytime but I try to do my best)...
Leadbelly's green corn... sometimes life can be so simple...