Debbie

painted on canvas board in ‘negative’, debbie has a ‘sculptural’ quality, with a limited oil palette of white and crimson.

debbie is identically framed like ‘ben’ and would compliment any interior.

while browsing the net, i was stirred by black and white photographs taken by usa photographer and classical guitarist carl volk.
i enquired via his website, to ask if i could paint one particular photographic study with the view of profiting from its sale, to alleviate any copyright issues. that painting was ‘debbie [1]’.

i had reply from carl’s sister, claire, who was so touched that his work had inspired me, that she kindly granted permission for me paint this study of debbie, saying “it would keep carl’s memory alive.”

i learned from claire that carl was born on april 8th 1953, in ann arbor, michigan, but sadly passed away suddenly in las vegas, nevada, on september 5th 2000.

debbie was the love of carl’s life, but she sadly lost her own battle for life four years after he did; hense why i have painted her in negative.

as a thankyou, i painted claire a second version of ‘debbie’, which is hung in her home in texas.
claire and i met in 2002 on her visit to the uk. she gave me a wonderful thick book on american artists. it was amazing to meet her and experience how this friendship has grown since that initial enquiry. claire gave me this second photo to work from, which i have called ‘debbie [2]’