Daniel’s New Hat

20″ x 16″
Oil on canvas

Years ago when we first moved to Hermosillo to live, we stayed in a furnished house that came with a guard named Daniel. Daniel was an old man of indeterminate age. I spoke no Spanish, but knew Daniel would make a great subject for a painting. With sign language, I convinced him to sit for me. (Crazy Gringas can get away with a lot!)

As the painting developed, his pride and self-esteem rose. People like Daniel have never even had a self-photo.

The day of the finishing touches arrived. Daniel appeared at the door with a big proud smile, shaved sideburns, a new T-shirt, and a brand new hat in a completely different style! How could I tell this proud happy old man that I really liked the old hat with the split bill better?

I painted Daniel in the new hat while the ghost of the old hat remained. The title became “Daniel's New Hat”. On Sundays, Daniel would bring his complete family to parade by the window and look at his portrait.

All the neighborhood guards wore police whistles around their necks and very late at night you could hear them signaling each other in their guard language.

On hot nights we would ask Daniel and his fellow guards that were standing on the corner “would they like a Cerveza?” (can of beer). Daniel would raise his arm fully extended to shoulder height palm out, raising his index finger and say “uno” (one). After that when Charlie or I would ask the other “do you want a glass of wine?” we would mimic this gesture saying “uno!”. reminiscing about the fun times we had living in Mexico in the 80s. I learned from my well-to-do Mexican friends that people like Daniel were not treated very well. They were just taken for granted. So the gift of a cold beer on a hot summer night was highly appreciated. This was my first portrait in oil and painted from life.