Florence and Walter

My mother died when she was 60, that was over 20 years ago.  My dad died three years ago.  I made this painting from an old photograph taken at some business dinner of my Dad's.  It's for a Day of the Dead altar.  (I'll explain the altar in my Mexico blog after I set it up .)  

The cool thing about painting realistic portraits is that there's a point at which the subject seems to "appear."   This can be kind of emotional when you haven't seen the person for a long time.  

Particularly when they start questioning you why you're only painting them on a piece of corrugated cardboard!  (15X15" acrylic)

Young Tibetan Woman with baby

My daughter Anna was raising money for Tibetan women this week with her Dining for Women group.  She pointed me to a website of photos of Tibetan women and I couldn't resist taking some time out from my Mexico paintings to paint this young woman with her baby.  

As far as I can tell, one thing that unites poor people all over the world is their extraordinary use of color, making them irresistable to me as subjects.  Now I'm thinking of doing a series of women with babies on their backs...  

16X18" acrylic on cardboard.

Bunny

This is my friend Bunny at home on her patio in Morelia.  She just turned 70 and this is a birthday gift.   I worked a lot on this portrait on-site (I think we had four sittings, maybe 5)  and had so much fun sharing life stories.  I ended up finishing the portrait from photos I took.  I think the best part is all the colors.  (oil, approx. 12X20")

Geoff

My husband has been posing for this small (20X25cm) oil portrait every morning for over a week. It turns out he's a good model as long as he can talk most of the time and glance down at his laptop occasionally.   He brought me up to date on various economist's views of the failing economy as I painted.  Even hearing all the bleak news, painting him was a nice way to start the day.

Jack is 22

This is my son Jack whose birthday was yesterrday.  It's my second try with my new technique and there's a lot of paint on this little canvas (4x6").  If you scroll down through the blog there's another larger painting of him I made four years ago.   

Barb in her Great Hat

I don't have the confidence to wear large hats much less orange lipstick, but Barb does it with aplomb.  I captured this image over a year ago at a family wedding and it's been on my list of subjects to paint ever since.  

Another tiny portrait,  5X5" oil.  

Molly and her Hen

This is Molly and her hen.  The two greeted us one day when I was dropping my daughter off to play.  Molly's family sells fresh eggs in New Boston, NH.

If you scroll through this blog, you'll see another subject with a rooster on his shoulder.  Something about this relationship attracts me... 

This is another tiny portrait:  4x6", oil.

Don on Election Day 2008

This painting is for my brother-in-law's 50th birthday which was in November.  It's the first of what I think may be a series of tiny portraits:  4X6".   It took me 3 weeks to complete, but getting a good likeness, even in a tiny size can be difficult.  There are so many images I want to paint, and there's no way to make large paintings of them all so when I came up with the 4X6" idea I felt relieved.   Oil on canvas board. 

Happy 50's Don!  Happy Presidency, Obama!

Alice on the Deck

This is my daughter vacationing on Matinicus Island in Maine.  I loved the way the sun bleached out her dress.  She did not love posing, however, when she could have been off to the beach.

Astrid

This is a small oil portrait of my Morelia neighbor's granddaughter.  

Alice and Miki

This is my daughter dressed for the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, holding her kitten Miki.  (Acrylic on canvas.)

Maury

This is my friend, artist Maury Colton of Matinicus Island, ME.   He was showing me some of his work when I got this idea for a painting where his work kind of bled into him... or maybe he's bleeding into his work.   (Acrylic on canvas.)

Rooster Man

This is a bigger than lifesize portrait.  It's my favorite of all my paintings to date.  Don't know who he is... just saw him one day at the farmer's market in New Boston with this rooster on his shoulder and knew I had to capture all those orange hues.  (Acrylic on canvas.)

Grandma and Ben

This is my mother and my son Ben.  She died before he was two so I painted this for Ben for a college graduation present.  

She said he was so precious she could eat him up... here she is taking the first nibble.   (Acrylic on board.)

Boy from Pichilinguillo

This painting was made as a gift.  Those are red snapper in his hands.  If you'd like to catch some fish like this, go to Mexico-Newsletter.com and order the issue on Pichilinguillo. The beach is remote and unspoiled.  This boy will teach you how to handline!  (Mixed media on canvas.)

The Twins

This commissioned portrait of identical twin boys was perhaps my biggest challenge to date.   I took a ton of photos and listened to their grandmother explain their distinct personalities.  As I worked I began to appreciate slight differences in their appearances.  (Oil on birch panel)

Jack

My son Jack, after the first semester of his first year of college.  A lot has happened since then.  For one thing, he covered this handsome face with a beard! (Acrylic on canvas)

Margaret and Sarah

These two girls were on a sabbatical in Mexico with their parents, professors from Vermont. Lovely girls.  Dig that red hair.  (Oil on canvas)

   

Tara

Tara is my daughter's close friend.  Not sure this is a very good photo of the portrait though.  But now it's hanging in her grandmother's house so I can't check.   Her eyes are really this color.  (Oil on canvas)

Ben, Up Close

This is a tiny painting in acrylic on paper that I did before making a larger painting of my son Ben.  But I almost like the tiny one best.