William F. Buckley, Jr 1925 - 2008

Thanks for all the comments, blamo. It was a thoroughly amazing experience. Glad, too, you like the painting. Wish I’d been able to get more and better photographs of it.

Thank you, Paul. Very kind.

There’s some path crossing and there’s some going to look, Sande. I’ve always been interested in people who’ve pushed themselves toward excellence. We are not the same, not at all, except for the single universal human ability to be original and remarkable that we all possess. I love people who try, who dare, and have always made the effort (with mixed results) to do that too. You’re wonderfully heartwarming in all you’ve said, as always. And look at you! All that was percolating in you before is coming out now, in spades, in your exquisite photography. You took the chance.

Oh my friend, Ruth, thank you. I’m glad you like the work, & know about him. He was such an astounding giant to me, and quite simply someone who just went ahead and did things that he loved doing. I repeat it with all my favorite people I suppose, but I admire that so much. It’s such an error to accomodate ourselves, our one life, to anyone else. They, and we, and the world are cheated by it.

Yes, Richard, I miss him in the world already. Thank you for liking the portrait of WFB. I hadn’t posted it before but it’s been on my website. Yesterday I thought I really ought to put it up now though I’d been sticking to more recent work. And this morning, of course, was the right time.

Thank you Dawson, very kind, I’m glad you like it. I certainly wanted to catch him thinking, what he did most, and what he did best.

Thank you, bites, I’m really pleased that you like it, fellow painter. Buckley really had a terrific sense of humor, a biting wit, but so open for a good sparring partner and taking on the world. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself. THAT’S a life to lead.

Thank you Jeff Burns! I saw your latest (tampered with) incarnation, and glad you’re now safe indoors at the computer.
Very pleased you like the portrait, very kind of you.

So well said, adgray. It was a life altering experience. I thought for years (possibly still do) would Mr Buckley be proud of me for doing this…or that…or what I painted. He sure didn’t make everybody happy but that wasn’t his intent, he was set on finding and speaking the truth, and liberating others from false illusions. You’ve said such kind things, a wonderful complement and I thank you for it.

Thank you, rosepepper, fellow painter of people. Such interesting comments, yes on all points, though I have no idea if he had regrets though most do in a lifetime. The original is in his home in Connecticut as far as I know. I painted it, young and poor, in a cold water flat, started in one place I got evicted from and finished in another that had no heat all winter. I believe, despite all that, it turned out wonderfully and I hope he loved it too. I don’t know where it might go now, he’s got a big extended family. It remains a wonderful experience for me.

Much appreciated, Douzy, many thanks. And you DO do this, your portraits are perfectly wonderful.

Yes, Lumineux, I got paid! and I delivered it, after about six months work, at a time he was away and never got to speak to him again. But later on, he very kindly answered several long-winded correspondences from me, and sent me two of his latest books at the time, beautifully and graciously inscribed. We never had the chance to have a conversation about the painting, in front of the painting, which I deeply regret and missed out on, but I think he liked it.

Thank your for your comment, Yasue. He’s more pensive, than troubled, a man who spent a great deal of time considering ideas. Like philosophers who study human behavior and the meaning of life, and astronomers who question the content of the universe, he may have sometimes felt himself on shakey ground, but he was a solid man who knew himself, and helped others find themselves, too.

So kind of you, pjm, you’ve written in such a lovely way and made me feel so good. I’m glad the portrait and description have meant something to you. I think it’s the way with powerful experiences, that there’s substance added to one’s own life to work with, and why I seek them out. They are life-altering, and I just love that.

Thanks so much, wildrider. I enjoy your photography enormously!

Much appreciated, Geno, photographer of beautiful wild things. I’m so pleased you enjoyed the picture and the words too. It was a wonderful experience, and there are so many dozens of others I wish I’d done this with…and may yet. Thank you for your encouragement.

Thanks, Antanas. Much appreciated.

Wonderful experience for me, and many thanks, Helene, for liking it.
I think, even as inexperienced as I was in portrait painting when I did this, I wanted the writer’s hands included. It was also a very natural pose for Mr Buckley.

Thank you, amarica. Life is so full of riches at every turn.

You’ve given me such a wonderful complement, Louise. Many thanks for what you wrote so beautifully. I saw many superficial portraits when I began to investigate the form. I know what it’s taken to make my own life, and if a painter eliminates that, flattens out a life lived, to achieve some idiotic conventionality, it infuriates me. Who we are, our character, and what living goes into making our faces always fascinates.

Many thanks, Tony, for this and all your comments. It means a lot to me.