March 10, 2018

Elvis in Charcoal #173, The movies #25, Clambake

By Rob de Vries Elvis in charcoal, Movie, Work in progress 0 Comments

The 7th drawing in the movies series.

Elvis plays the son of a wealthy oil magnate who feels the need to prove himself among folks who are unaware of his dad’s fortune and connections. Along the way, he meets several stock characters, among them a woman who has hopes of marrying for money, a cynical widower whose interest in life is revived once he adopts Elvis as his ersatz son, a poor working man who revels in the opportunity to spend some of Elvis’ fortune while pretending to be Elvis, and a wealthy snob who looks down his nose at Elvis because he believes him to be a poor nobody. The two strongest features are a serious and deeply emotional role for Elvis, who was apparently in poor health at the time of the shooting, and appears less physically active on camera than usual, and some actual footage of the Orange Bowl regatta spliced into the final cut.

Elvis in Charcoal #173, The Movies #25, Clambake
Charcoal, ink, colored pencil and White chalk on colored paper,
30 x 20 cm, 2018.

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Tags:Art, Chalk, Charcoal, Clambake, Colored paper, Drawing, Elvis, Elvis art, Elvis Presley, portrait, series, Sixties

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robdevries

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The beginning
I remember well. It was the summer of 1973 or 1974, we were on vacation with my aunt and uncle. For two weeks my uncle constantly sang the first lines of “Blue suede shoes”.
I asked him what that was and he told me it was an Elvis Presley song. Back in Amsterdam I immediately went to the record store and bought the LP “Elvis’ Golden Records Volume 1”. “Blue suede shoes” wasn’t on it, but I was immediately sold.
After that, all my pocket money went to Elvis records, books and related things.

In the meantime
A few years later I also started drawing and painting Elvis portraits. Of the countless I had made, only three have survived, and that’s only because they hung on my mother’s wall.
Once I grew up, my interest in Elvis waned somewhat. I was still a fan but not so fanatical that I bought everything I could find. That changed in 2007 when we went on vacation to Colorado in the US. In the three weeks we were there we took a domestic flight to Memphis to visit Graceland. That was an unforgettable event after which the Elvis virus struck again in full force.
Back in the Netherlands I restarted making Elvis portraits and collecting books and vinyl.

And now, a portrait of Elvis (almost) every week
Since that visit to Graceland I have been making a portrait of Elvis (almost) weekly using charcoal, ink and white chalk on colored paper. Most of these are sold. Mostly through Facebook and Instagram. In 2022 I hope to make the 300th Elvis in Charcoal drawing.
I also work on commission, your favorite Elvis photo as a drawing or painting. There are even regular customers who already own more than twenty of my Elvis artworks.
My Elvis portraits hang on people’s walls all over the world. A.O. in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Ireland, England, Italy, Australia, Scotland and the United States.