According to Friday’s New York Times, one of two escaped inmates bartered his portrait painting skills in order to get an unsuspecting guard to smuggle in tools which the convicts used to break out of Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. The escapee, Richard W. Matt, was pretty talented, as you can see from his above paintings of President Obama and Martin Luther King, Hillary Clinton, Julia Roberts and Marilyn Monroe. All in all, the guard wound up with 12 original paintings. That’s a lot of work for set of needle nose pliers, a screwdriver and a couple of tubes of white paint. Perhaps he broke out in order to attend my 2 week, August 3-14, Portrait Painting Workshop at the School of Visual Arts. Maybe he realized that if he had taken either a class or a workshop with me he may have been able to fully manifest his talents, like so many of my former students. If he had polished his skills, he might have been able to afford a better lawyer, rent a helicopter to aid in his getaway, or perhaps even have avoided a life of crime altogether. Unfortunately for Mr. Matt, he was killed by police earlier today. A cautionary tale, no doubt!
Marvin Mattelson is now conducting both these workshops online in Full HD 1080p through his Fine Art Portrait Academy. For further information, or to register for an upcoming offering, please follow this link to his teaching page.
Until next time...
