Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Capturing Birmingham, One Landmark at a Time



Meet Myron Pierre.  Myron is an extremely talented artist whose specialty is detailed drawings of Birmingham landmarks.  I have seen him over the years camped out in different areas of town drawing away.  Myron and I got to know each other several weeks ago in Five Points,  and as luck would have it, we met again at Art Walk!   What a delightful and gifted artist he is.  Can you imagine trying to draw, with chatty onlookers like me,  hanging over your shoulder?   If you are lucky enough to have a Pierre rendering , you my friend,  are lucky enough!

Tune du Jour is "Someone to Watch Over Me" by Rod Stewart. Pun intended.


21 comments:

Webradio said...

Hello !

Très bon dessinateur...

Ming the Merciless said...

The second photo does show the quality of his work. He is indeed very talented and patient. :-)

You, Alexa and Abe Lincoln got me all curious about Peyton Place. :-)

Now I'll have to track down a copy to read it.

Anonymous said...

I used to teach and we had a teacher who was in a different school but a commercial art teacher. It was a vocational school and he had it filled with young people (11th and 12th grades) who wanted to have a lifestyle like he had. Living on the road most of the year or at least half of it when school was out. He would follow the county fair and state fair circuits and set up a stool and draw portraits of people who sat on a similar stool. He used a black marker and could do a caricature portrait in a few minutes. He was very good at what he did and made more money doing that than he did teaching 185 days each year—I think he charged $10.00 a portrait back then in the 1960s.

Your blog post reminded me of John Norris, Virginia, someone who I had totally forgotten about. What a blessing it was to be subscribed to your blog and see this post and remember all of that past.

I do like the photo you took of Myron Pierre. I like his turned-up collar and his bleeding heart scarf. I can imagine he was a popular artist there during the Art Walk.

I don't know if you have ever seen a Pileated Woodpecker but I posted one I saw here at My Birds Blog . It was the first one I have seen in 46 years.

Olivier said...

encore un beau portrait d'artiste. il a beaucoup de talent quand on regarde ta deuxième photo.
Personnellement je n'ai aucun talent avec un crayon, je ne sais faire que les têtes à toto ;o)

still a beautiful portrait artist. it has a lot of talent when you look at your second photo.
Personally I have no talent with a pencil, I do not know that the heads toto ;o)

Victor said...

Love that second photo. It's all in the details isn't it? As for the colour picture, he looks like a very happy guy! Well done Virginia.

Virginia said...

Ming, Don't you go looking for those dirty words now.

Abe, I am thrilled that my photos evoked such fond memories for you. Thanks as always, for visiting.

Web- Bonjour !

Snap and Olivier, thanks for visiting and leaving comments. I am learning from all of you.

Halcyon said...

I love his expression in the first picture. He really looks like he's enjoying himself. That's a real luxury - to love your job!

Barbara Rahal said...

his smile is just gorgeous!

angela said...

Here's a man who's happy in his work and good at it too. Lucky man and great portrait, Virginia.

Julie said...

I like the combination of a colour image followed by a B&W, Virginia. Good choice in both cases. In the B&W he looks like he is using a plain old pencil. But what is that red thing sticking up out of the colour image. Is it what he is using or is it something intruding from the background.

He has a jaunty air to his bearing which is always a pleasure to observe.

Wayne said...

Angela said it already. This man is doing what he loves.

Virginia said...

He uses ink and pencil. Saturday he had a pencil taped to a rod of some sort to make it longer. ( Julie that's what you were noticing). He mentioned that he is training himself to use his left hand as well. It's amazing to watch!

Knoxville Girl said...

Great portrait, V. Chock full of personality. And I like that you shot his work in b&w.

Eki said...

It's a great capture of the artist at work, V. I like the candid expression and the smile on his face, and the photo of his hand at work. The essence of what you're reporting is there.

Katie said...

Myron would get really tired of me, because I could spend hours watching him draw! I love seeing how people capture a place (and he's doing an amazing job with this scene of Birmingham). It looks like Myron has an amazing eye, a talented hand and a beautiful smile!

If you haven't seen the book "David Gentleman's Paris" be sure to try to find it; it has lots of watercolor drawings of places all over Paris that look a bit like this. Oh to have this talent!

Virginia said...

Now Katie, I DO NOT NEED ANOTHER PARIS BOOK!!!!
Gotta run. Got to check Amazon.com for the book you mentioned. My all time fav is Meredith Mullins' book "In a Paris Moment" but I have others. Paris Sketchbook is another..... I could go on.

Rob said...

Excellent portrait and a glimps of hs work. Sort of similar Myron and you. both capturing what you see using different methods. This makes the arts meaningful

Laurie Allee said...

Dusty said it better than I can so I"ll just say, Ditto what Dusty said!

Beautiful.

Julie said...

oh dear ... I just bought the Mullins and another by Cartier-Bresson.

All your fault, Virginia! All your fault ...

Jane Hards Photography said...

This image just reminds me of being at home. Gary never looks at all happy when he is drawing and painting.

India Henson said...

Virginia, Myron built my raised beds. Myron is the best!!