Davis was bigger than life.His voice was bigger than life. His art was bigger than life. His capacity for work was bigger than life. And his influence on me was bigger than life.
He needed someone who could photograph his art before it was sent out to clients. And he needed to have it done on the same ridiculous schedule that he kept for himself. If he had worked on an illustration all night long (and that was the way it was always done) he would ask me to meet him at my studio at 7 in the morning.
And then we would talk for an hour. We would talk about anything. Music. Literature. Art. Politics (no, we didn't often agree). Religion. Human decency. When the conversation was over, he'd remind me that the work needed to be in FedEx that day. And he'd be off to work on his next project.
He was a marine illustrator. He would get specifications from marine architects, and turn them into illustrations that the common man could understand. The difficult made easy.
The photograph that accompanies this blog entry was made in 1989, in my Port Townsend studio. I knew he'd be coming in with an illustration for me to copy, and I had everything set up. There was no way he could say no. It's one of my favorite portraits, and it was done with one sheet of film. On a big camera.
When I heard that Davis had died last Friday, I realized that none of us is really bigger than life. But Davis was one who made life bigger for anyone who knew him.
He signed his works, "Davis."
(I was out-of-town in June; catching up.)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful bit of writing that makes me wish I knew Davis - and yet now I do! My life is bigger. Thanks.