Barack Obama -4-: Taking it easy!

(Pastel & Colour Pencils, 65 x 50 cm – 2009)

I just was in Obama mood again these days…

Yes We Can!

(Based on a photo by Bill Burke, pageonephoto.com)

So, my first Barack Obama portrait is finished.

I think it is quite different from the portraits I have seen from him on the net. On most of them the artists emphasize only one aspect of his personality.

This is not what I wanted.

I wanted to paint Obama as a human being, with all his facets:

his humanity, his leadership, his honesty, his hopes, his decisiveness…

Of course I never met him personally, so it can only be the Barack Obama I perceive through the TV and the photos I have seen from him. And I saw all of these qualities on his face.

I can only hope that I have caught a little bit of his soul…

And if you are wondering what he is counting…. words of course:

“Yes We Can!”

My special thanks go to Bill, from pageonephoto.com, who allowed me to use one of his photos to make this portrait.

A  F  T  E  R  W  O  R  D

I want to thank you Michael Newman from the Newmradio blog for having published my portrait there, with the following wonderful words

“… It really shows the worldwide respect that our country has gained by taking a step in the right direction by electing Obama.  Maybe it takes the U.S. hitting rock bottom to spur our citizenry off of their couches and into realizing that many of the ways we do things need to be changed…”