PULLED INTO PAINTING MAD MEN

A decade late, I am watching Mad Men that first aired in 2007. It is a great TV show that ran seven years and received 116 Emmy nominations and awards. It has an edge and is wonderfully done. I started a new series and will paint more of it. Yes, it’s fiction, but quite disturbing to see the abuse in the early 60’s. But, the show has an enigmatic edge that pulls you in. In the 1960s I was in high school in London.

Incredible amounts of alcohol gulped there. And same incredible amount of cigarettes smoked there. How did people live beyond 40? And the open racism, humiliation of women, endless betrayals, lies, avarice.

“I don’t think I ever wanted to be the man who loves children. But from the moment they’re born, that baby comes out and you act proud and excited and hand out cigars.”

Don Draper, Mad Men

Don Draper is a bastard but he has “reasons.” His character is greatly written, acted and directed. It’s enigmatic. There are moments you want to wring his neck and others you want to pat his head and be his mother, whom he did not have. He is above all charismatic and full of character therefore intriguing. It’s all in the writing plus the actor.

Contact if interested in one of the Mad Men paintings posted in this article or to commission a specific scene from one of the episodes.