* * Keepers of the Tradition portrait Makes finals list in prestigious art competition

When portrait artist Leslie Roberts Gregg invites you to collaborate on a project, you jump at the chance. At least I do!

In April, Leslie and I released Keepers of the Tradition, a compilation of a dozen fine art portraits with accompanying full-color, hardbound book. Leslie was just informed by The Artist's Magazine that one of the portraits had made the prestigious finals list out of over 7,500 entries.

Here’s how it all came about.

You may remember from a couple of years ago that I ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates, 7^th District. Leslie is an old friend, preternaturally empathic, and after my loss, she was worried about my inevitable let-down. She called and explained that her father, Ray Sr., had competed for and lost a State Senate race a generation earlier, and she knew the toll.

Originally thinking about a project for me, the idea of a collaboration took shape, “There have been a number of patriarchs and matriarchs that I wanted to paint, but sadly they passed away before I got the chance.” Would I like to work with her on chronicling some of the area’s people who were keeping alive traditions of their grandfathers and grandmothers? The idea appealed to me.

During the course of a twenty-minute conversation, a title emerged: Keepers of the Tradition. We committed to each other to begin right away. Fifteen months later, we were done, ready for the grand unveiling.

It was an astonishing, fabulous event! Ten of the twelve people pictured were in attendance, and none had seen their portrait beforehand. As Leslie and her subjects pulled off drapes one by one in the packed room, they witnessed her work for the first time. There were more than a few moist eyes in the audience.

Leslie and I have been doing presentations, shows, and events since then, and both of us are still floating above the clouds. I can never remember doing anything that made so many people so happy!

Leslie recalled about the inception, “The original phone call was just to check on you. The idea of actually collaborating occurred to me after thinking about a project for you. I thought, ‘What if I took a break from my commission treadmill for awhile and work on some of the things I wanted?’ I had always wanted to paint some of the special individuals in our area. Having you to tell their stories was a perfect match. My commissions have been one after another since 1992.”

Our first subject was restorative forester Jason Rutledge of Check, Virginia. Jason selectively cuts timber from large tracts of land and drags them out with draft-horses that he raises. He’s a brilliant, grizzled, eccentric, photogenic man who was generous with his time and receptive to our project. A few weeks later, well after I’d finished the write-up, Leslie invited me to see the finished portrait. It was stunning!

And so we went, working with twelve carefully selected subjects, including a woodworker, a millstone preservationist, a country preacher, an herbalist, a quilter, a farmer, a violin maker, and more. Leslie spent fifty, sixty, even seventy hours on each one, and she never let me see them until they were done. Each one was miraculously better than the one before. We carefully kept them all under wraps, so to speak, until the last one was completed and professionally framed, and the book was printed.

The portrait of Kerry Underwood, a moonshiner from Floyd, was the award winner. Leslie commented, “He has a roughness about him. He has chiseled features and a strong face. Moonshiners are rebels, a trait handed down in the profession. They’re pugnacious, strong, and independent people. He had a confident arrogance I wanted to portray.

 “From the beginning when I started thinking about this, I knew I wanted to paint them on my terms, not influenced by others, even you. I think the artistic freedom allowed me to paint in such a way that was more appealing to the judges (of the competition). It let me be more creative, passionate, and edgy. I think the judges look for that.”

“I’m extremely proud that one of the Keepers portraits was chosen,” Leslie beamed. “The show continues to grow and evolve. Venues are requesting it for display. Our Keepers continue to participate in presentations. They are adding even more by their presence. They help the portraits come alive with their passion. I love that evolution of this project. Our original concept was to produce a compilation of portraits and a book. What we got was a compilation of portraits, a book, and a group of individuals vested in its success and in each other. They’ve formed friendships and bonds that I never saw coming. It’s been extraordinarily rewarding!”