September 3, 2014

Other Elvis Art, part 1: Betty Harper

By Rob de Vries Other art 0 Comments

I “discovered” Betty a long time ago, long before there was internet, in 1979 when I found a copy of her book “Newly discovered drawings of Elvis Presley” at the American Book Centre in Amsterdam.

Until today the book has still a prominent spot on my bookshelf with art books between Hopper and Wyeth 🙂
Back in the eighties Betty was a real inspiration, I loved all of her Elvis drawings.
Her “Jazz and Blues” and “Country and Western” drawings are also amazing. And she is also a accomplished photographer.
Betty is the Official Artist for Muhammad Ali Enterprises and the Official Artist for Elvis Presley Enterprises!
Take a look at her work at http://bettyharper.com/

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Tags:Art, Drawing, Elvis, Elvis art, Elvis Presley

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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.