No. 368: Don Vito Corleone: Lucky Accidents

No. 368: Don Vito Corleone by Tom Wills, April 2017

"But I'm a superstitious man. And if some unlucky accident should befall him - If he should get shot in the head by a police officer, or if he should hang himself in his jail cell - or if he's struck by a bolt of lightning, them I'm going to blame some of the people in this room, and that I do not forgive."

Gray. Old. Man.

I love The Godfather movie trilogy. I’ve grown accustomed to the back-and-forth timing of Godfather II and find the Vatican intrigue of III entertaining. I even named my German Shepherd “Corleone.”
German. Corleone. I have to explain that one a lot.

Before the wine, and the chair.

I decided to draw Don Vito after a particularly rainy weekend of Godfather marathoning, during a lull in paying art work.
It became a work of lucky accidents.

Early version of Marlon Brando's face.

First, I had a nice wooden frame with a mat that I had painted gray, specifically fit for a wedding picture I have done.  But the groom hated the frame, wanting something less heavy.  So suddenly I had a large and heavy, dark frame on hand.

Vito's vino.

Godfather!

Sinister happening.

Second, the film frame from Godfather I that I chose for the drawing had a real problem: The camera seemed to catch Marlon Brando’s saggy and shadowy eyes in left to right motion.  I could not really discern where the iris and pupils are. Someone else had painted the image and had him looking to the wine bottles, but it looked wrong — too much white in the eyes. So I guessed and made him look to the right, away from the wine bottles. The result is …

Be a man!

Sinister Godfather!

In the movies, particularly the first one, Don Vito comes across as much less of a badass than he is in Mario Puzo’s book. Sure, people got artfully whacked on the big screen.  But in the book the whackings were much more heavy.

Working on the shirt and pants.

So what we now have is an aging and sinister Mafia don glaring murderously from a frame originally reserved for a bride in white, who was looking lovingly into the eyes of her husband.

He's no bridesmaid.

For love or murder, I hope you think this piece looks killer.

I will sell this piece if you should make me an offer that I cannot refuse. Find me on Facebook or email willstom01@gmail.com. We can work something out peacefully.