Free Gift!

On my website, I offer a set of free note cards to those who sign up for Faces & Figures, an e-newsletter that contains portrait stories, (art)icles and studio news. The note cards are not downloaded files, but a gift that you receive in the mail. It has been so successful that I decided to extend the offer here.

If you would like to receive Faces & Figures every other month, simply click on the Faces & Figures newsletter link in the right column. Make sure you include your mailing address and your preference--pet or music-themed note cards--on the form. That's all there is to it!

To see the note cards or to view past issues, click here.

Delivering Your Work in Style

Not every commissioned portrait is delivered in a frame and ready for hanging. Often a client wants to frame the artwork themselves, which means I needed to come up with a way to deliver two-dimensional, unframed artwork. It needed to protect the art, look nice and be reasonably priced. Here's what I came up with:


I started with two pieces of
black foamcore, cut to size.








I made hinges out of
black paper and
adhered them to the
foamcore in three places.


Inside I added two pieces
of tissue paper to protect
the art from any black rubbing off.




On the outside, I attached ribbon to the
foamcore with a sticky, decorative seal.
I tied the ribbon closed and, voila!

Next time I will attach a business card to
the inside using those black photo corners.

Thanks to artist Marylin Sholin for suggesting this post.

La Goulue of Montmarte, part 2

La Goulue's Fall

By 1895, La Goulue was rich, famous and bored. She announced her departure from the Moulin Rougein Montmarte to set up her own business, investing an enormous sum in a fairground booth and specializing in belly-dancing. She believed that Paris would continue to come to her, but was disappointed in the response. La Goulue without the Moulin Rouge was a failure.

La Goulue drank heavily and eventually she spent all her money on high living, bad investments and drinking. Alcoholic and homeless, she eventually returned to Montmartre, selling peanuts, cigarettes, and matches on the streets. No one recognized the former queen. She died in 1929, telling a priest that she was "La Goulue."

Although most people never heard of La Goulue, her lively, energetic image lives on the work of many artists, most notably the drawings and paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec.

La Goulue of Montmarte, part 1

Fans of artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec may recognize his poster at left. But they may not know the woman in the poster or what her story is.

La Goulue was the stage name of Louise Weber, the outrageous dance hall queen of Montmartre, Paris in the late 1800s. At age 16, she worked in a laundry mat and began dancing by wearing to the dance halls garments left for cleaning. She quickly drew attention to herself by dancing on tables, displaying the heart embroidered on her underwear, removing men's hats with her toes and drinking everyone under the table.

One of the men La Goulue attracted was the painter Pierre Auguste Renoir. Renoir introduced her to nude modeling, and through these connections she found her way into the fashionable dance clubs of Montmartre.

Once at Montmarte, she danced the chahut (a form of the can can) with her lanky partner Jacques Renaudin. She was the subject of many of Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters and drawings, including the "Moulin Rouge - La Goulue". Soon a wealthy woman with a home in Montmartre and a carriage of her own, she considered herself very much the reigning queen of Paris.

But her fall was as spectacular as her rise. (Stay tuned for part 2.)

Jeremy Lipking exhibition

Whenever I find a portrait artist whose work inspires or excites me, I add it to my "inspiration board". It's an eclectic mess of Toulouse-Lautrec, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Guan Wexing and more.

One of the artists on my board is contemporary figure and portrait painter Jeremy Lipking (if you squint, you can see his work in the lower left corner). If you don't know Jeremy's work, take a look at images and video from his latest exhibition in Santa Monica, Ca. The exhibition is called "A Day In the Country" and includes figures, landscapes and still life.

I love Jeremy's work, not only because his paintings are luscious and beautiful, but because they also evoke strong emotions. They are all about mood and intensity.

It's exciting to see artists like Jeremy being recognized nationally. For so long, the contemporary art world has disregarded representational and traditional painting, instead celebrating mostly abstract and conceptual works. I'm happy to see that trend turning favorably for portrait and figure artists.

Stephanie's Portrait, final

I typed "final" in the heading knowing full well that in a few days I might be reworking or changing a few areas. Working with a new medium is tough like that. You don't have the know how to know when you're done. At least that's the case with me. If this were a watercolor, I'd sign it, photograph it and frame it the same week. Done. With oil painting, you have the whole drying stage which lets you stare at a painting for weeks, finding flaws or second guessing choices. Anway, here's the "final" image.

Oil Portrait, step 3

After a few more days of painting, Stephanie's portrait is coming along. In a few days, I can start her tattoos. I have more to do on the background--soften the "artwork" and edges, adjust some of the color.