Felix D'Eon

Diary ~ Jesse and Marcelito

August, 2006

 

I met Jesse for lunch today, and he, Marcelito and I went for a walk in the park behind my house. It was a beautiful day – the sun had come out, and Marcel and Jesse seemed to take to one another right away, both being around the same age, intellectual, and with a great many interests in common. I did a small drawing of the two of them seated on a bench on top of the hill – it was a terrible drawing which I promptly threw away, but it was done with sumi ink and brush, which intrigued Marcelito. He asked if you could use it on skin, and I said it was non-toxic, so he started drawing a tattoo like design on the upper arm of Jesse, and then, without any warning, pulled up Jesse’s shirt and started drawing on his stomach as well. Jesse didn’t seem to mind; in fact, he laughed and squirmed beneath Marcelito’s touch, and I afterwards took photos of Marcel and Jesse with his new ink tattoos.

Jesse was scheduled to model for me after our walk; I’ve been reading about Lord Byron lately, and have been fascinated by a schoolboy crush he had while an 18 year old student at Cambridge. He supposedly met his little boyfriend, a 15 year old choir boy, when the latter was swimming in a river and started to drown. Byron, who was swimming nearby, lept in and rescued him, and they became inseperable lovers thereafter, or at least for the next couple of years. It was all very charming. I was determined to paint the scene of their meeting, and so was trying to draw Jesse in the parts of both lovers, while Marcelito sat in the room continuing our conversation from the walk, which had gone undisturbed right through Jesse’s disrobing and posing. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me earlier, but when Marcelito saw the trouble I was having, he volunteered to play the part of the younger lover, and I did a couple of delightful drawings from life of the two of them as my historical figures. Afterwards, I took some photos of them in similar poses to share with you. I’ll post the drawings soon.

The drawings and photos came out great - it was essentially a beautiful day, spent with one of my very best friends, and my twin brother, making art, laughing, and having the most wonderful time.