Men in Hats

Class sketch of a man wearing a hat
acrylic on bond paper

My apologies to all the men out there who absolutely
love their hats. For me one of the unattractive parts
of winter is that men and women, but especially men,
are forced to wear hats. I'm probably alone in this, but
because I like to see men's hair, or even lack of hair,
more than a hat, I dislike the toque. No don't pile
on the examples of great hats on men, I'm sure they're
out there, I am simply not fond of them.

I'm only writing about this because I found an image
from one of our art group evenings. This poor
man had on a black fedora. The light was so dim in
our room that I could barely see his face, hidden in
the shadow under the hat. As I am particularly fond
of painting faces, that was not ideal. However,
when I go to work with the group, I try to paint
what's been arranged by all the people who get there
before me. So this night it was a man in a hat.

Beneath the hat he had a lovely face, but perhaps
he didn't like wearing it either, because he looked
glum. Now don't get me started on baseball caps,
especially backwards baseball caps. Where's the
positive? I love looking at the man I live with
without a hat, and yes when he has to wear one
I can't wait until he takes it off.

Have a wearing-your-hat-proudly day.