Hindsight

The story is a bit unsatisfying (some might say very unsatisfying, but I’m okay with ambiguous endings) — but JCVD, the film about an aging Jean-Claude Van Damme (or Van Varenberg, his real name) getting mixed up in a desperate hostage situation in a “real life” post office, sort of does for Van Damme what The Wrestler did for Mickey Rourke, i.e. makes his aging face the star of a raw, honest performance that shows he can act in a grown-up film. It is beautifully directed, and the story is twisty and subtle and nonlinear. There is a scene near the end where Van Damme spills his guts about what his life is like, and it hits home.

I painted this from a still frame, using Sketchbook Pro and ArtRage. I love ArtRage for its oil-painty-ness, but still find it a bit hard to control. The likeness is only so-so. It never ceases to astonish me how hard it is to get a likeness (especially when not working from life).