“I did [part of the painting] using a mirror as I needed the reverse angle for the composition.”
– J. Haines
The canvas is 30×40 inches and, framed, the work measures approximately 38×48 inches, which makes it among the largest I have done. It features a slightly bigger than lifesize color portrait of Willard Woodman on his 100th birthday (complete with lettered cap) and four black-and-white or sepia portraits of him at earlier stages of his life. These were done using as reference newspaper photos. One–Mr. Woodman behind the delivery truck–I did using a mirror as I needed the reverse angle for the composition and my computer would not flip the image for me. Then there are three stores. At the top is the first store which has the Roundy’s sign on the side of the building and the special for, inter alia, swiss cheese in the window.
Woodman’s Market
Under the portraits is the more modern store with the giant W at the right and the separate entrance for liquor purchases. At the bottom right is the night shot of the most modern of the three stores. I thought the night shot was appropriate in that it gives visual credence to the Open 24 Hours sign on the front. Finally, there are two of the Woodman logos, the first featuring a sun rising over the first store at the top. The second, which notes that the enterprise is employee-owned is at the bottom left and presented as if it had been taped there in the same manner that store specials are mounted for public view.
Total painting days required to complete: 35, give or take 1 or 2.
The use of all images or logos appearing in the Woodman painting are private property and not the property of John L. Haines. The composition and reproduction as depicted by the artist was commissioned by the successors and legal heirs of Mr. Woodman. No further reproduction is authorized.
Pomp & Circumstance
“….A project I had been considering for some time”
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and an Old Geezer
Last year, grandaughter Isabella Victoria (or IV as we call her), then 5 years old, snapped a photo of me relaxing in our bohio in my New York Yankee cap, and when I saw the shot I finally decided to go ahead and do a self-portrait, a project I had been considering for some time. To give the painting some reason for being, I cast myself as a painter at work on a portrait of myself as I appeared in a photograph taken in the spring of 1963; a cadet in full-dress uniform about to graduate from The Citadel. At my request, Esther took a picture of my left arm with paintbrush so I would have something for reference in the foreground. So, the painting is based on those three separate photographs which I kept shifting around until I thought I had the angles and positions right. The easel and palette were right there in from t of me, so it was easy to add them. Actually, IV helped some with the paints on the palette, so this ended up being kind of a family project.
“The backgrounds are varied and generally colorful, but dominating in the great majority of my paintings are the people who inhabit those backgrounds and bring them to life.”
– John Haines
This is Esther, relaxing near the pool of my folks’ place one summer in Virginia Beach.
Portrait of young Chinese couple on their wedding day.
Granddaughter looks out from the hospital room of her great-grandmother.
Granddaughter as seen peering through chain-link fence on a sunny afternoon.
This is niece, Carmencita, as seen looking out through an imagined, half-open window. The blowing ribbon, hanging key and piece or red string were just for fun.
Yanxi Li and her husband Heming own and operate Three Swallows Imports, a store in Norfolk, Virginia, which features a wide variety of Asian antiques, principally from China and Tibet. They have everything from furniture to singing bowls to carved bone figurines. Photos of a sampling of their beautiful wares can be seen at www.threeswallows.net.
Wedding Portrait of Susana Cheng based on photograph taken at reception following ceremony in Hong Kong.
Son of prominent Coronado couple frolics in avalanche of plastic balls in McDonald’s play area.
Lourdes Haywood Bogaerts & husband Maarten. More than 20 years ago, who could have ever imagined I’d own a Haines, much less be the subject of a piece? Needless to say, Haines’ artistry and not time has been kind. Webmistress
Linda Nicole in her sombrero de Carnaval at the ruins of Old Panama.
Lucho Azcarraga, late famed Panamanian musician, at the organ.
Señor Alberto leads a gang of guys who do the twice-weekly maintenance on our small swimming pool. He and I will often spend time commiserating when he is here. He really delights in watching me paint and, one day several years ago, asked me if I could paint portraits of his two daughters. I told him to bring me good photos of the girls, and we could see what we could do. Here is the final product and, I am happy to report that the father and the daughters were delighted with the result.
This is my late Uncle Bob as he appeared in 1944 in his Navy lieutenant’s uniform. His widow, my Aunt Jean, asked me to do this portrait, using a black-and-white photograph for reference, and the same now hangs in her apartment at Westminster Canterbury in Virginia Beach.”
This is a painting of our son, Raul, at age 10 or 11, playing in one of the youth leagues at Dick Coy Park in the Canal Zone. Raul was and still is a great baseball player. He pitched the only perfect game recorded in the Farm League and went on to excel in the Fastlitch League and for Balboa Red. As you will note from the painting, even when he was small he insisted on playing with a full-size professional glove. Not much got through him. The canvas measures 15×30.