The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Watercolor and ink on Bristol Board, 15"x 24"

This watercolor painting is an illustration of the poem The Love Song of J. ALfred Prufrock by poet TS Eliot. The poem is full of rich yet daunting imagery. The main focus of the poem as I interpret it is on man's lifespan. At one point Eliot writes "I have measured out my life in coffee spoons." This inspired me to show a man progressing though life as if it were nothing more than a preset number of coffees. To help illustrate that I used the imagery of a piece of bread being eaten. The bread is eaten away slowly as the man ascending it ages until the bread has been eaten and the man is dropped into the pot. Other imagery from the poem is included but I encourage you to read the poem for yourself. This was done as part of a class I took a while back. It forced me to experiment with painting and color.