As a huge fan of the movie and novel “The Outsiders”, my favorite character was Johnny Cade, played by Ralph Macchio. I could see elements of myself in him and when he died, it really hit me hard as a kid reading and seeing it in the movie. I created this stipple pen & ink illustration of Johnny that portrays the events in the movie and how they relate to the Robert Frost poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
The illustration will be auctioned off and reprinted and used by Danny Boy O’Connor who is renovating the Curtis Boys house. For more information on how to help out, please go here.