Decades of images find their way onto the canvas of local
artist
Inspiration comes to each of us in different ways
– a vibrant orange and pink sunset, the thunderous sounds of
waves crashing on a sandy beach, a well-loved verse, laughing
children.
Decades of images find their way onto the canvas of local artist
Inspiration comes to each of us in different ways – a vibrant orange and pink sunset, the thunderous sounds of waves crashing on a sandy beach, a well-loved verse, laughing children.
Don Heitkotter finds inspiration for his painting in many things as well, but his often take on a more personal nature, such as the rolling hills of the San Juan Valley near where his new studio is located; a long-ago fishing trip with his brothers; or a funny story he heard in a bar revolving around a small canoe, a foggy night and a drunken John Steinbeck and Doc Ricketts.
“I tend to classify most of my work as romantic realism, but I paint everything,” Heitkotter, 76, said. “I’m not afraid of expressing myself.”
Heitkotter, who has had his art decorate the walls of the summer White House during the Nixon administration and was hired by actor Clint Eastwood for paintings used in the movie “Play Misty for Me,” says he knew he was destined to became an artist at an early age.
“I knew what I was going to be when I was 4 years old,” he said. “Even in first grade, my teacher would give us an assignment in art and I would do it and then add to it. I would get marked down because I didn’t follow directions, and I hated it because I wanted it the way I wanted.”
He continued to draw throughout his childhood, and when the California native began his first year at a San Jose high school he signed up for his first art class.
“I got kicked out. My teacher gave me paper and told me to walk around the school and draw whatever I want and I could turn it in at the end of the year and she wouldn’t flunk me, but that I couldn’t come back to class,” Heitkotter said with a twinkle in his eye. “I was a bit disruptive. She was a nice old gal, too. I kind of regret it now.”
Two years later, at the age of 16, Heitkotter dropped out of high school and became a paratrooper for the United States Army. He left after almost three years, and returned to the San Jose area, where he became a professional boxer. He found time to marry an English literature professor, and did some part-time work as a billboard sign painter.
“In those days all the billboards were hand-painted. We would do automobiles with shiny chrome and they would look real,” he said.
After eight years of boxing, Heitkotter realized he could make more money painting signs, and quit boxing. A few years later, he decided to quit that job, and concentrate on his own paintings.
“My wife thought I was crazy, and we divorced shortly after,” he said. “But in the first year, I had three paintings hanging on the walls of the White House. And the Clint Eastwood thing came along then, too.”
The “Clint Eastwood thing” Heitkotter refers to are the original portraits he painted for “Play Misty for Me,” a 1971 suspense film that was Eastwood’s directorial debut. Eastwood hired Heitkotter to paint a portrait of the actor, which is slashed to pieces in the film by an obsessed fan, played by Jessica Walter.
“It was amazing, in a way,” Heitkotter said. “Eastwood was the most popular actor in Hollywood at the time, and Nixon was the most powerful leader in the world, and they both wanted my work. But I can’t say either was a blessing really.”
Although Heitkotter had fun hanging out on the movie set, he was paid a flat fee for his work, and therefore was not entitled to residuals when “Play Misty for Me” later became the most frequently shown movie on late night television from 1970-1985. He did get to meet both Jessica Walter and Donna Mills, the two female stars of the film, and even got his best friend a date with Walter.
“My buddy was crazy about her, and he came down to the set and took a picture of me with Clint, Donna and Jessica Walter,” he said. “I said to him ‘hey, maybe I can fix you up with her,’ and he told me to go ahead. I told him he wouldn’t like her much, but he went anyway, and he called me later and said ‘I’m sitting here having a glass of wine with Jessica Walter and all she does is talk and complain. She’s bossy.’ And I said ‘I told you.'”
Today, two of the three paintings Heitkotter did for “Misty” hang in his San Juan gallery; the other is owned by Eastwood. But while they may be the most famous of all the work displayed on the walls, they aren’t necessarily the most mesmerizing.
There are several landscape of the San Juan hillsides, filled with bright blues and yellows. There is the landscape Heitkotter calls his “masterpiece,” an old, weathered farm house sitting in a field with a gorgeous orange sunset and a few remaining bits of blue sky peeking behind gathering clouds.
Then there are the series of landscapes of a moonlit lake surrounded by trees, with a small canoe with two men sitting in it. Heitkotter calls this series “The Storytellers,” and while he says it could be a couple looking for romance sitting in the canoe, it is really Heitkotter and one of his brothers.
“Me and my five brothers went camping a few years back, and we did some fishing,” he said. “I call it ‘The Storytellers’ because what else is there to do when you’re stuck in a canoe in the middle of the lake but tell each other stories.”
Heitkotter has had several galleries over the years, but says he is happy to have settled in San Juan Bautista, where he hopes to help contribute to the town’s burgeoning art community.
“If I can be successful here, I think more artists will come. It happened in Campbell,” he said, referring to his first studio, which he opened in 1970. “I set up shop in a building located on the corner of the main drag there and the paper came out and covered it. I predicted to them other artists would come there, and they did. For a while it was great, but I also predicted that once it became a thriving spot, the merchants would come take it over and kick the artists out, and that happened, too. Greed is universal, after all.”
He predicts much the same for San Juan Bautista, but says there “will be a hey day, and I want to be a part of it.”
Don Heitkotter’s Art Gallery and Studio is located at 107-C, The Alameda in San Juan Bautista and is open by appointment. Call Heitkotter at 623-9928 for more information. Heitkotter participates in the monthly Gallery Walk sponsored by the San Juan Bautista art galleries, which is held on the second Saturday of each month.
