Chuck Connelly

Every day of working opens my world just a little more.

The other day I got a photo assignment to shoot some portraits of artist Chuck Connelly, the subject of an Emmy winning HBO documentary called "The Art of Failure," released last year.

I thought, "Cool, let me look this guy up."

I found this.

I thought, "Holy jeez what am I walking in to?!??!"

Then I thought, "Okay, whatever, I'll just pretend I didn't see it and I'll treat him like everyone else."

I had about 30 minutes at the art gallery in Litchfield before Chuck arrived with his assistant, Mark.

Now, I know I'm supposed to be an unbiased journalist, but come on, I'm also an artist, (in the most primitive sense of the word, I think) and his work was absolutely amazing, and in that short span of time I developed such a nervous excitement to meet the artist who's hands were responsible for all the stunning work that surrounded me.

And guess what?

We got along just fine.



The last shot, a painting of Chuck's studio, is my favorite piece from the exhibit. It reminded me of my favorite children's book when I was a kid, "Hey, Al."

Go to New Arts Gallery in Litchfield between now and Nov. 22 if you want to take a look for yourself.