Portrait artist is his own worst critic

Posted 1/19/21

When it comes to art, there are possibly as many reasons for the creations as there are creators.

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Portrait artist is his own worst critic

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OKEECHOBEE — When it comes to art, there are possibly as many reasons for the creations as there are creators. Tom Derry creates, not for financial gain. In fact, he seldom sells his creations. He creates for the sheer love of bringing what he sees in the world to life on paper.

Derry is a portrait artist and works with charcoal. He spends just about every morning at the Dunkin Donuts by the lake sitting in a booth drawing some of the most realistic portraits you will ever see.

Derry wasn’t always a portrait artist. He spent the early part of his adult life working in construction, but was seriously injured about 20 years ago and was unable to continue working in that field. He messed up his left ankle, both knees, his back, his neck and his left arm. After his injury, he was on pain killers and anti-depressants for many years. “I’m off of all that because now I can focus on something other than me.”

One day about six years ago, his 10-year-old daughter Hailey Nicole asked him to help her with a school project, and it involved drawing. He said he really enjoyed it but wasn’t great at it. He even thought his daughter did a better job drawing than he did, but it made him remember how much he enjoyed drawing as a child. He never pursued it because his father was not encouraging. He did not think drawing was something useful. You couldn’t make a living drawing, after all.

Finding himself with time on his hands because he was unable to work, Derry began to teach himself to draw. He found he had a talent for it, but he also had to practice.”It took a lot of trial and error,” he said. He spent a lot of time observing people and how faces work. It wasn’t until maybe a year later that his daughter told him there were YouTube videos that could help him.

He does not paint, because he has a problem with his eyes that makes it difficult to differentiate colors, so he sticks to black and white. “This doesn’t give me headaches,” he explained.

As an unexpected benefit, he found he needed fewer and fewer pain killers when he was drawing and is now completely off of all his medications. He spends eight to 12 hours drawing every single day. “I’m shooting for hyper-realism. That’s what I really like to do. I want to try to get it like a photograph. I’m getting closer, but I still see mistakes. I’m constantly growing. I’m my own worst critic.” Although he can draw anything he looks at, he prefers to draw people.

Most of the time, he does not draw the people around him at Dunkin Donuts, because it takes days to complete a portrait. He needs a photo of his subject, and he does not want to creep anyone out by taking photos of random strangers. He draws a lot of celebrities or friends. Sometimes people send photos. He has to really feel it in order to draw the portrait though, he explained.

One of the main reasons Derry draws in public is to encourage others to draw as well. He said he loves to meet and talk to people and there is no better way than to sit in a public place. Often people are afraid they are bothering him and won’t approach him, but he loves it when people stop to chat. “I like talking to people,” he said.

Derry feels it is very important to encourage children and young people who might be interested in art. He often wonders where he would be now if he had been encouraged as a child. He would love to see one of the buildings in Okeechobee used for a mural that the youth of Okeechobee could help with. “Imagine how much it would tickle the kids to drive by and see something they helped do.” When he does sell a drawing, he often uses the money to buy charcoal pencils for kids. “I encourage them to bring their books in so we can draw together. I didn’t have that. I would like to have an impact on others if I can.”

Both of his children are artistic as well he said. His son, who is in the Air Force, draws Anime and his daughter is interested in cosmetology.

Derry has a Facebook page, Okeechobee Portrait Artist Tom, where more examples of his work can be seen, and he can be reached by email at hunter1198us@yahoo.com.

art, artists, Tom Derry

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