I really don’t draw art. I have had some fun doing some Bob Ross type stuff on my iPad, but I don’t draw/paint much. I have always had trouble visualizing like that, so it’s not a huge shock. However… I’ve been thinking about my father’s bedroom at Taffy’s (his mom’s) and trying to remember everything that was in there. He had two main pieces of art that stood out to me. One was a poster and one was a painting.
The painting was a kind of Egyptian style, with reeds and a river, and it was nice and I used to make up stories about it. At the same time, I was a little (a lot) terrified of mummies and the “sarcophagus” at the Cleveland Art Museum was not my friend. It’s still there, by the way, as a Mummy Case, and I think they named it that to fuck with kids like me. I was less weirded out by the Coffin of Senbi, or the open ones, but suffice to say, I didn’t really have an Egyptian phase as a kid.
Now that poster has been driving me nuts.
I couldn’t remember it clearly enough to find it online, so I tried to draw it, and … well here’s what I remember:
- It was four men, playing rugby/football
- 2 men wore blue, 2 wore orange
- All had handlebar moustaches
- One orange guy was on the ground
- One blue guy was in front and had the ball
And here is what I drew:


Now it is most likely someone it’s going to say I mean Rousseau’s “The Football Players” which I agree certainly sounds right, except that I also have these clear memories!
- The guy with the ball was holding it, not catching it
- The guy with the ball had reddish hair, not black
- The guy with the ball was front right, looking to his left
- It had dates and words across the bottom, like a concert or tour dates
- It was pointillism
That last one is killing me.
At this point, I think maybe it was an inspired-by poster, for some event. Possibly it was a Romance language? Maybe it was even a tour of the actual painting!
I can remember so many of the other paintings at Taf’s. That one is vexing me todays