Joseph Brady and his wife Lisa Dubitsky make a living looking at faces, and it hasn’t gotten old yet.
“We just keep looking at faces and faces and faces,” Brady, 58, said.
The Portland artists specialize in drawing portraits, and their talents were on display at Saturday’s Holiday Vendors Market at the Elks Lodge off McGillivray Boulevard in Vancouver. Their booth was one of 30 at the vendors market during its inaugural iteration Saturday. The market featured handmade soap, jewelry and much more.
The couple met about 20 years ago in a drawing class, and started their fast portraits business about three months ago.
Drawing people’s faces has been a fun, unique experience for them.
It’s about “finding the beauty in everybody,” Dubitsky, 57, said. “In some people, it’s more obvious, but then when you really look, you see the beauty in everybody and the differences in how lovely that is. That’s what I’ve enjoyed.”
“What I’ve noticed is how friendly people are,” Brady added. “People are more friendly when you sit and talk with them and you get to study their faces.”
Darcy Hall, a Vancouver resident who organized the event, said that he started planning it in October, and “wanted to try to do something upscale that focused on the handcrafted products.”
“I like the variety, and some of these people are so incredibly talented,” Hall explained. “I didn’t even know we had that in Vancouver. To be able to showcase that talent is thrilling for us.”
Jennifer Fuller, a 41-year-old Washougal resident who owns Jennifer’s Vintage, had a booth for scrimshaw, an art form that traditionally involves engravings in ivory or bone. Fuller put her own spin on that by doing engravings with piano keys.
“I’m basically taking an old art form, a very old medium and giving it life so it can keep living on,” Fuller said.
Fuller, a mother of four, said that her four kids have taken an interest in the art. They help her pick up the recycled pianos she uses, and invent designs. She said she makes much of her scrimshaw while cooking dinner in the kitchen.
“It’s fun,” she said. “For me, this is a family thing.”
Vancouver resident Victoria Paine was one of the patrons at the market. She bought a portrait from Dubitsky, who drew it in about 15 minutes. Paine wasn’t planning on attending the market, but saw a sign on the street, and decided to check it out. That decision ended up netting her a Christmas present she plans on gifting to family.
“Since it’s the holiday season, it’s a good time to give it to my parents as a gift,” Paine said.
