Portraits 2015

Frederick Douglas - Watercolor

I have always been drawn to paint portraits.  This iconic photograph of Frederick Douglas made for a fun afternoon.  But what really grabbed my attention was this quote by him, "I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs".  This came around one of the times of one of many mass shootings and the headline "God is not going to fix this" was stirring up controversy.  I posted this and the quote with the hashtag "God is not going to fix this ALONE".  I think you can make the connections and the relevancy with what is needed in today's political climate.

Ernest Hemingway - Pen and watercolor

I like his quote, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."  I feel the same way about sitting at a blank canvas or paper.  Or in front of the complexity of life before us.

4 year old Tibetan Girl - Study in oil

I ended up with this print on the cover of a Taschen magazine.  It is a photograph by National Geographic photographer Allison Wright.  You can see a write up on the photo on NG's website.

detail

I had such a response from the first study that I felt compelled to make another one as a gift.  Trying a different approach and using what I learned the first time around.  I am in fact working on my third one.  Such a great photo to work with.  She has more subjects, I may try as well.

Santi at 5 months at Grandparents (in progress) - Oil on Canvas

On one of our visits from Taiwan, I sketched this little guy here thinking it would make a nice painting.  Now back in Texas, I came across the sketch, transferred to canvas and put the color in from photos and memory.  This is the only photo I got of it while in progress before I gave it to my parents for xmas.
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