Post holidays

Christmas comes and goes in a twinkling! Shopping, decorating, sending cards, wrapping (and rapping) are usual - but the only decorating I do is on masonite, with brushes and acrylic: painting children's portraits.

Two of this year's Christmas-due were Sydney (no, NOT Australia! THAT WOULD take some DOING!),the 5-yr-old grand-daughter of a lovely lady I met on cruise - and Blake, whose grandfather is a life-long friend. One hand washes the other. Blake's portrait (32" 48") I began in September - then put it aside to begin Sydney's. Blake's mother recently painted - meticulously! - several LARGE rooms, with vertical stripes. Impressive! Handsome! I decided to "use" these for the background of Blake's portrait. I liked them so well, I "borrowed" them for Sydney's portrait! More or less. In Sydney's portrait, the "stripes" became sheer curtains, softened/broken by horizontal waves of sunlight! Ethereal, lovely. In the color slides that Sydney's mother sent, her clothes were casual. Party time! Casual became a pink flowered dress, sleeveless, full skirt, a pink sash, BIG bow.
In the foreground a bevelled glass table, reflects all of the above! Perfect, except the table needed SOMETHING ON IT. What? Need you ask? A BIG ORANGE CAT (our Peaches). Sydney LOVES Peaches!

Back to Blake. It seems that a shirt is not a shirt without a logo. How about BLAKE? Yes! BLAKE
BLAKE
BLAKE
BIG BLOCK letters subtly painted, right side of his shirt. In the foregroun
a toy. What kind? I thought train, then decided PLANE! (Grandpa pilots his own.)

Bottom Line: Everyone IS delighted. including the artist.

Sometime in January, both portraits will appear on my site. I will be eager to read your comments.

random thoughts

Well . . . like it or not, winter is here. This morning, it is (more or less), "making nice". Earlier, when I left for McDonald's (New York Times tucked under one arm), the horizon was a glorious RED! Delighted with this HOT display on a cold morning, I stood by the car until it faded.

The Times had a remarkable article re Richard Pryor - affirming that doing his thing HIS WAY was the basis for his unique achievement! Let that be a lesson to us all.

Among MY "things"(comparatively trivial) is using public transportation whenever possible. Driving has never been
something I enjoy. Particularly to downtown; parking is expensive. Yesterday was different. Fresh snow! Sidewalks a MESS, streets the same - AND I was toting a PORTRAIT, 3' x 4' (!) (carefully wrapped in a sheet, fastened with safety pins and scotch tape). The above notwithstanding, I managed to make it to Tri-State Reprographics to have copies made - not as large as the original: 2' x 3', two for the subject's grandparents, one for me - to be digitally photographed, and added to my website. Tristate will keep the "negative", making it possible to have any number of prints, any size, anytime.

That done, I treated myself to a BIG slice of pizza, wandered about more or less aimlessly, happy to be "out" as opposed to sitting at
my easel.

My mornings begin at McDonald's

My mornings begin at McDonald's (good, HOT coffee, bottomless cup), the New York Times, + a notepad and pen (for any brilliant ideas that occur to me).

THIS morning was special. For the past two evenings, I have been "working" in the cellar . . . carefully packing a portrait (24" x 36", acrylic on masonite, subtly framed) of Sydney, a 4-year-old from Detroit. The package included two, perfect prints of the original. For starters, I put the above in a large, green plastic bag (yes! a "trash" bag). wrapped this in an old, clean blanket - tied with "legs" from wife's discarded panty hose (incredibly strong, stretchy, TAUT!), then folded cardboard cartons (from McDonald's) over all, making sure the frame was at least 2" INSIDE the "wrappings". These I covered with sturdy brown wrapping paper, affixed with glue and tape. In addition to the address (Sydney's, mine) I "embellished'' the wrappings with "stuff" I saved from incoming mail: "OPEN IMMEDIATELY!" and "YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!" etc. The postal clerk (they know me, think I am nuts) informed me that I could NOT send it unless I put their, offcial WIDE PAPER TAPE over all seams! I was given a roll of tape the size of a hubcap, scissors. and a wet sponge. About 20 minutes later, done and sent.

My other Christmas-due portrait (32" x 48") is of Blake, whose older sister I painted two years ago. This summer, at a party, a woman I did not know, accosted me: "Are YOU The Artist?" I admitted to being AN artist. "WELL! she said, I don't want ANY FLOWERS in my grandSON's portrait!" (Shucks, I was planning to put a bouquet of pink roses and purple pansies in his lap). So! Blake has to be MACHO at five. I considered putting a RIFLE on a coffee table in the foreground. My wife, all ways discreet, discouraged this.)

The portrait is finished, NO FLOWERS, NO rifle. To dispel any doubts about his identity or masculinity, I painted, on the front of his shirt big, block letters:
BLAKE
BLAKE
BLAKE

I think everyone will be pleased. I know that I am.