Matti Paints - Subject Chris

Painting Chris was a great experience. Hopefully for both of us.

Pictured: Adorable.

As new friends we’re not super familiar with each other, but I have an incredible admiration of his talent and abilities. We met at an open mike that I regularly attend and have been talking for quite a while now, so when I confronted him about the project he was reluctant at first, but I’m really glad he decided to be a part of it. I could tell from the beginning that he was nervous so I did my best to make him comfortable.
The colours he chose were perfectly within my comfort zone of purple and blue, with white. The gold complimented it well and the green is a colour I’m slowly getting more familiar with the more people I paint.

The difficult green... Kermit Green if you will. It's not easy...

I knew we had a connection when he looked through my musical and elicited multiple squeals of glee. However, his song choice was ultimately hinting at what I had suspected.

Not Pictured: Squeals of delight and dancing

I think we all suffer from body issues. I know I have. I feel most people have, especially when it comes to how we think we should look and how we feel about how we look now. I like to think that I’ve resolved all these issues but I think the more canvases I do, the more I’m realizing how much this is still an issue, not just for me, but for everyone.
I explained before about the intimacy of this experience before, but I think after painting Chris, it really hits home. He allowed himself to expose his deepest fears to me, to allow me to create them into something beautiful.
There were a lot of songs focusing on image in his playlist which is perhaps what brought these thoughts to the surface. Maybe I’m just looking too much into this, but it seems the more people I get to paint, the more appreciative I am to be able to do this.
I’m painting people insecurities on their skin and then putting them on display for the world to see. It’s a scary procedure for anyone and there were points where Chris was literally holding onto me for support. I could not be more proud of him for allowing me to do this with him. It was a very magical experience. 

 

Presenting Chris: