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For JessRunsHappy, without whom this would literally not exist. I love you to the moon and back, thank you for being one of the three people matching my freak so very perfectly!
I am in this picture, even though you can't see me, and I don't mean in the "artist's are in their art" kind of way, although that is also true.
I mean I am LITERALLY standing next to Adam Driver, on the sidewalk outside the Lucille Lortel theater, in Greenwich Village, at 11:30-ish pm on a Thursday night in late September. The person taking the photo is my bestie, Jess, who is in front, with me peeking up from behind her, and Adam towering next to me. Her hands were shaking so hard with nerves that this was the ONE frame from the live photo that was clear enough to keep. And it's so worth keeping!
His forehead is entirely relaxed, his brow unfurrowed by worry, and he just looks so genuinely happy. His smile reaches right up into his eyes, the muscles of his lower lids pursed with amusement, but pulls a little stronger to the right, narrowing that eye a little more, crinkling the crow's feet at the crest of his cheekbone, and rumpling his right dimple more deeply than his left. His hair is neat and a little messy all at once, having been swept up and out of his face by his hand several times, the ends of the forelock draggling a little by his right ear as a consequence. He's comfortable in a soft black long-sleeved tee, his glasses hanging on the collar. I think my favorite detail is how the light is catching on the tips of his eyelashes in the outer corner of his right eye.
But what's truly extraordinary about this moment isn't actually that I'm the one standing next to him (though I'm STILL pinching myself about that), or the expression on his face, or what he's wearing (even if I was internally having A Moment about those glasses tucked into his collar), it's that anyone who's gotten a selfie with him at that stage door could be standing next to him because Adam gives so much of himself to be so very consistently present with every single interaction.
On those nights (and there are many! it's unusual when he doesn't) that Adam chooses to walk out of those doors with his pen in hand, that wonderful, generous man makes a point to give his fans a special moment to remember. He makes direct eye contact, and listens carefully while you stammer your thanks and appreciation for his work and manages to imbue his simple "Thank you, thank you very much" with such sincerity that you can't help but believe he really is happy to know you loved his work, even if he's heard it 20 times already in the last 5 minutes. He listens so carefully to everyone's short anecdotes, and frequently has a trademark wry, dryly funny, rejoinder. If he sees you struggling to take the photo, he'll gently pluck your phone from your hands & take it himself. Sometimes the selfies have him doing the mouth thing, sometimes, if the moment calls for it, he's making a silly face, and sometimes he's not really sure which camera to look at if there's more than one being used to document the moment, but you always know that he saw you. He heard you. He appreciated that you were there.
It's incredible.
Of course, there are some nights when he doesn't stop to sign anything or get photos, and hustles straight into the car at the curb; his awkward apologetic lumbering strides, the small waves and quiet thank you's and good nights he murmurs as he hurries by are his way of saying he's sorry to disappoint those waiting. It could be that his security team got wind of something that makes them even more concerned for his safety, or he might have another commitment that pulls him away, or he might even just simply be too tired, but honestly the reason doesn't matter.
Adam literally does not owe these moments to anyone. The audience isn't entitled to anything more than what they get when they sit in the seat of the theater to watch the play. The rest of the cast choose to quietly slip out of the other stage door while everyone is distracted, released from their obligations by the final bows, and head off to go enjoy their private lives.
He has to be tired after having just finished a 2.5 hr play that has him in every single scene, that starts with his character, Strings, grieving the sudden loss of his mother, and ends with him sobbing in the embrace of his long-lost dad, and Adam walks off the stage after his bows with a red nose and real tears still shining in his eyes. "Hold On To Me Darling" a hilarious and heartbreaking exploration of the way fame erodes your ability to have a "normal" life and meaningful relationships, in which Strings repeatedly mourns how all anyone wants from him is an autograph and that nobody can see past the iconography of his success to the lonely man underneath, and it's clear that Adam's own experiences play into his portrayal.
And I challenge anyone with a single whit of self-awareness not to bring some guilt about that with them to the stage door.
Please, if you go see the show, respect the boundaries that Adam and his security team place around interactions with him. Don't touch him, though if you're extra lucky he might ever so gently hover his hand behind your back during a photo, in case you should lose your balance (it's very warm!). Don't shout, don't push, don't shove anything toward him. Please respect him as a person.
And appreciate those moments for the gifts they are.
Photo used for reference taken by the ever amazing JessRunsHappy at the stage door of the Lucille Lortel theater in Greenwich Village NYC on 26 Sep 2024, and was used with her permission. (Yes, I'm still pinching myself. How was I that lucky??)
About 8 hours of painting time over the course of 2-ish days. As much as I am pleased with how well I've honed my skills for photorealism, I do really LOVE getting to do a quick, brushy piece, especially after a long and very detailed project. Having a really blurry reference like this forces me to relax my overly perfectionist tendencies. And to be quite honest, the softness of everything in this one accurately reflects the rather hazy memory I have of his face from those short moments when we got our chance to interact with him. I finished the monochrome version and then decided to play around with some colors based on an old "palette challenge" I had saved from tumblr years ago and then found I had TWO favorite versions, so I decided to just post both of them. I've decided to dub the color one the "sodium lamp remix." Enjoy!
I am in this picture, even though you can't see me, and I don't mean in the "artist's are in their art" kind of way, although that is also true.
I mean I am LITERALLY standing next to Adam Driver, on the sidewalk outside the Lucille Lortel theater, in Greenwich Village, at 11:30-ish pm on a Thursday night in late September. The person taking the photo is my bestie, Jess, who is in front, with me peeking up from behind her, and Adam towering next to me. Her hands were shaking so hard with nerves that this was the ONE frame from the live photo that was clear enough to keep. And it's so worth keeping!
His forehead is entirely relaxed, his brow unfurrowed by worry, and he just looks so genuinely happy. His smile reaches right up into his eyes, the muscles of his lower lids pursed with amusement, but pulls a little stronger to the right, narrowing that eye a little more, crinkling the crow's feet at the crest of his cheekbone, and rumpling his right dimple more deeply than his left. His hair is neat and a little messy all at once, having been swept up and out of his face by his hand several times, the ends of the forelock draggling a little by his right ear as a consequence. He's comfortable in a soft black long-sleeved tee, his glasses hanging on the collar. I think my favorite detail is how the light is catching on the tips of his eyelashes in the outer corner of his right eye.
But what's truly extraordinary about this moment isn't actually that I'm the one standing next to him (though I'm STILL pinching myself about that), or the expression on his face, or what he's wearing (even if I was internally having A Moment about those glasses tucked into his collar), it's that anyone who's gotten a selfie with him at that stage door could be standing next to him because Adam gives so much of himself to be so very consistently present with every single interaction.
On those nights (and there are many! it's unusual when he doesn't) that Adam chooses to walk out of those doors with his pen in hand, that wonderful, generous man makes a point to give his fans a special moment to remember. He makes direct eye contact, and listens carefully while you stammer your thanks and appreciation for his work and manages to imbue his simple "Thank you, thank you very much" with such sincerity that you can't help but believe he really is happy to know you loved his work, even if he's heard it 20 times already in the last 5 minutes. He listens so carefully to everyone's short anecdotes, and frequently has a trademark wry, dryly funny, rejoinder. If he sees you struggling to take the photo, he'll gently pluck your phone from your hands & take it himself. Sometimes the selfies have him doing the mouth thing, sometimes, if the moment calls for it, he's making a silly face, and sometimes he's not really sure which camera to look at if there's more than one being used to document the moment, but you always know that he saw you. He heard you. He appreciated that you were there.
It's incredible.
Of course, there are some nights when he doesn't stop to sign anything or get photos, and hustles straight into the car at the curb; his awkward apologetic lumbering strides, the small waves and quiet thank you's and good nights he murmurs as he hurries by are his way of saying he's sorry to disappoint those waiting. It could be that his security team got wind of something that makes them even more concerned for his safety, or he might have another commitment that pulls him away, or he might even just simply be too tired, but honestly the reason doesn't matter.
Adam literally does not owe these moments to anyone. The audience isn't entitled to anything more than what they get when they sit in the seat of the theater to watch the play. The rest of the cast choose to quietly slip out of the other stage door while everyone is distracted, released from their obligations by the final bows, and head off to go enjoy their private lives.
He has to be tired after having just finished a 2.5 hr play that has him in every single scene, that starts with his character, Strings, grieving the sudden loss of his mother, and ends with him sobbing in the embrace of his long-lost dad, and Adam walks off the stage after his bows with a red nose and real tears still shining in his eyes. "Hold On To Me Darling" a hilarious and heartbreaking exploration of the way fame erodes your ability to have a "normal" life and meaningful relationships, in which Strings repeatedly mourns how all anyone wants from him is an autograph and that nobody can see past the iconography of his success to the lonely man underneath, and it's clear that Adam's own experiences play into his portrayal.
And I challenge anyone with a single whit of self-awareness not to bring some guilt about that with them to the stage door.
Please, if you go see the show, respect the boundaries that Adam and his security team place around interactions with him. Don't touch him, though if you're extra lucky he might ever so gently hover his hand behind your back during a photo, in case you should lose your balance (it's very warm!). Don't shout, don't push, don't shove anything toward him. Please respect him as a person.
And appreciate those moments for the gifts they are.
Photo used for reference taken by the ever amazing JessRunsHappy at the stage door of the Lucille Lortel theater in Greenwich Village NYC on 26 Sep 2024, and was used with her permission. (Yes, I'm still pinching myself. How was I that lucky??)
About 8 hours of painting time over the course of 2-ish days. As much as I am pleased with how well I've honed my skills for photorealism, I do really LOVE getting to do a quick, brushy piece, especially after a long and very detailed project. Having a really blurry reference like this forces me to relax my overly perfectionist tendencies. And to be quite honest, the softness of everything in this one accurately reflects the rather hazy memory I have of his face from those short moments when we got our chance to interact with him. I finished the monochrome version and then decided to play around with some colors based on an old "palette challenge" I had saved from tumblr years ago and then found I had TWO favorite versions, so I decided to just post both of them. I've decided to dub the color one the "sodium lamp remix." Enjoy!
