I Met a Portrait Artist

I’m very excited to have a solo show coming up next spring, in Orange, VA. This is the town where I grew up, so that’s extra special. (I say I grew up there, but I actually grew up on a farm 15 miles away. But Orange was town to us.) Anyway, on a recent visit I stopped in to the Arts Center of Orange, where my exhibit will be, to take some photos and measurements.

The space I’ll be using is offered to various artists and groups for their displays. But this month (November 2023) a portrait artist, Davi Leventhal, is occupying the space and painting portraits of whomever shows up.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

When people show up and agree to sit for him, he makes a small under painting, like these.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Later, he applies Renaissance techniques and turns them into something like this.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I find this pretty fascinating.

Davi also had several of his sketchbooks and other paraphernalia for visitors to peruse. Aren’t these interesting? They represent about 1/4 of the people he had sketched onto one page in his sketchbook.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

If you miss Davi’s stint in Orange, you may want to check out his website. Of particular interest to quilters, he was involved with a community project making what we would call yo yos.

Now, back to my exhibit: what do you think of that turquoise wall color? It’s just on one wall, which I think will be perfect for my purposes. Lots of planning to do!

Ellen Lindner

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