One of the qualities I admire when looking at the work of various painters - Velazquez, Rubens, David, etc. - is their rendering of the folds and textures of fabric. It seems that this subject would be relatively easy to master but that is not the case. Personally, I find it difficult to give fabric life without using some sort of reference. However, once I have established the structure of the area in question - in this case, the folds of the jacket - I derive great pleasure in drawing it. The individual here might be a number of personages - the failed writer, the Sociology professor, the community activist, the beleaguered High School English teacher, the lifelong librarian (this last position is only applicable to males). Most of these characters have a socialistic bent and feel slightly betrayed at having to live in low-brow capitalist America. Curiously, it is said that despite their rather meager socioeconomic status, they see themselves as infinitely more enlightened than those who do not share their points of view. The fact that they are often alienated from their provincial surroundings affords them the opportunity to adopt the mantle of victim which, observers claim, is highly cherished in the progressivist circles they frequent.
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