On Sunday July 28, I will have the privilege of being present at the dedication of a portrait of a certified Colorado music legend, Harry Tuft. This is hardly the first, and certainly won’t be the last event honoring Mr. Tuft. The celebration will be a gathering of friends and fans to trade music and stories. The portrait was painted by your humble author. Although I am generally reluctant to make myself the subject of these articles, I am going to do that here and now. I hope my readers will forgive this, and indulge me. As I normally talk about painters long dead, from a viewer's perspective; perhaps it might be interesting to hear the story from the horse's mouth. This is my story of the production of a portrait.
Mason, your portrait of Harry captures the essence of the man and your words illuminate what hundreds, if not thousands of us revere about him. Always humble about his talents and achievements, Harry’s kindness and generosity of spirit has inspired so many to pursue dreams of becoming musicians. With Harry’s example in our minds, we dared to try and knew we would find a soft landing place in the bosom of one of his most beloved creations, Swallow Hill Music Association. Play on, Harry.
Nicely done! You've captured Harry in his most important role, as a good listener. I hope I don't bring the next subject up inappropriately. As one who paints from photos, did you ever speculate what the results might be from an "interpretation" by MidJourney or ChatGPT. I'm sure you and your fellow and fella artists are struggling with the same questions the world is contemplating: "What is real?" and "How do I tell when something is not." Your comments would be interesting. Harry has my email address.
Thank you so much for reading. I think what is critical to understand with my process is there is a lot more to it than the recreating of photographs. I like to think of my paintings as a record of my interaction and relationship with a real person, whereas a photograph is a split second in time. The machine of a camera and the machine of AI can never replicate this human rapport. I wrote a short essay about AI a while back if you’re interested called “standing at the edge”. Check it out in my archives if you’re interested!
Mason, your portrait of Harry captures the essence of the man and your words illuminate what hundreds, if not thousands of us revere about him. Always humble about his talents and achievements, Harry’s kindness and generosity of spirit has inspired so many to pursue dreams of becoming musicians. With Harry’s example in our minds, we dared to try and knew we would find a soft landing place in the bosom of one of his most beloved creations, Swallow Hill Music Association. Play on, Harry.
Nicely done! You've captured Harry in his most important role, as a good listener. I hope I don't bring the next subject up inappropriately. As one who paints from photos, did you ever speculate what the results might be from an "interpretation" by MidJourney or ChatGPT. I'm sure you and your fellow and fella artists are struggling with the same questions the world is contemplating: "What is real?" and "How do I tell when something is not." Your comments would be interesting. Harry has my email address.
Hi
Thank you so much for reading. I think what is critical to understand with my process is there is a lot more to it than the recreating of photographs. I like to think of my paintings as a record of my interaction and relationship with a real person, whereas a photograph is a split second in time. The machine of a camera and the machine of AI can never replicate this human rapport. I wrote a short essay about AI a while back if you’re interested called “standing at the edge”. Check it out in my archives if you’re interested!
Thank you!
Congratulations, Mason.
Beautiful portrait. They chose the right painter.
Thank you so much!