Faces of Recovery: Cindy, Toni, Mike

Drawing portraits from photographs is always hard for me. Perhaps because there’s no story, nothing to draw and paint except anatomy and light and shade. But with a story, a face comes alive. A portrait is so much more than a sum of features.

If you’re an urban sketcher and draw people in cafes and on the streets, you might wonder how it is to draw so closeup, with your subject knowing you’re drawing them. I find it freeing that there’s nothing surreptitious about it. Sitting across a table makes it more of a conversation. I don’t set up an easel and I don’t work so large that the work feels like a barrier between us as we talk.

This is Cindy White with her story.
“I left home at 17 and it took me until I was almost 30 to complete high school but I did. I persisted.”

This is Toni. This is her story.
“After 20 years of homelessness I’m in independent living now.”

This is Mike with his story.
“Recovery Cafe fills that need for family in my life.”

Find every story recorded so far here.