90th Birthday double portrait

My dear friends Beth and Joe Krush recently agreed to let me paint their portrait, and I am thrilled!

The Krushes have illustrated many books including some of the most well-known children's classics of the '50s and '60s. You may know them through their marvelously detailed drawings in The Borrowers by Mary Norton, The Gone-Away Lake books by Elizabeth Enright, several classics by Beverly Cleary, and many, many more.

When I was a child I adored their illustrations. They had a way of melding with the written word in my imagination. Not only were the people wonderfully lifelike and detailed, but also the settings were equally well-drawn, descriptive, with interesting perspective angles. In addition, the Krushes' illustrations faithfully followed the text, never using "artistic license" to go against the author's intent. The combination was irresistible to me. I used to trace their drawings to try to understand how they did them! Little did I realize then that I would need years of practice drawing the figure. Somehow I learned that they lived and taught in the Philadelphia area, and I got the idea that I would love to meet them. I even had questions planned out. The first question I planned to ask them was "How do you work together without getting into arguments?"

But it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I had the opportunity to meet them through another illustrator/mural painter friend. Interestingly, they are just as I imagined them to be.

Here they are at their 90th birthday party. Happy Birthday, Joe and Beth!

Summer Show at gWatson Gallery

If you are in Stonington, Maine this summer, please consider stppping by the gWatson Gallery to see the summer group show. Three of my new aerial landscapes of the Deer Isle/Isle Au Haut area will be in the show.

The gallery is a charmingly renovated old building right on Main Street in the center of town. The owner, Ron Watson, has recently purchased the entire building to create a lovely street level gallery with storefront display windows, and two gigantic new condos on the upper floors.

One of 43 Maine Artists

The April issue of Maine Home + Design Magazine is called the "art issue" and, among other articles on art collecting and living with art, it features a short article by Carl Little on five Maine artists. There's also an article entitled "Art. Extraordinary artists whose work reflects Maine's timeless mystique." I'm happy to report that I was somehow (we won't ask how) chosen to be in it. I was not aware of this new publication before the editor called me to ask if I would participate, but now I'm telling everyone about it!

Painting in the Brandywine Valley

Well, we weren't exactly in the valley. More like on top of a hill overlooking the valley. It was a very warm spring day, and no shade was nearby, so we broiled a bit. I went with my friends and fellow artists Nancy Bea Miller and Garth Herrick. Here we are in the middle of setting up. Nancy Bea has spotted a bird and is taking a photo of it, Garth is unloading his equipment, and the horses are looking on.

And here's a closeup of the view I was painting. It's great to get outside, stand in the middle of a landscape, and try to replicate the real colors and the excitement of exeriencing the moment.

Speaking in front of 800 people!

Last weekend I unveiled my portrait of George A. ("Frolic") Weymouth at the Portrait Society of America's annual conference. This year it happened to be held in Philadelphia, and the Leadership in the Arts Award was given to Mr. Weymouth, a landscape and portrait painter who also founded the Brandywine River Conservancy and Museum, and is the museum's present director. The Portrait Society asked me to paint a portrait of Mr. Weymouth as part of the award. There was an unveiling ceremony and I had to "say a few words." Well, I have to say that the anticipation of standing up there in front of 800 people was far worse than the actual experience!

I should add that I actually envisioned this as an opportunity to combine the genres of portrait and landscape into one painting. It was lots of fun to paint!

Here I am up there at the podium...and here is the portrait.

Portrait Brokers of America

This year I signed on with Portrait Brokers of America. This was a big step for me, because for about thirty years I've been my own representative, getting my own commissions. I can still do that, but I'm hoping that my association with PBA will bring additional work. PBA is the largest organization of its kind in the United States. It is based in Birmingham, AL, but it has representatives all over the country. Last month I went down to Birmingham for the annual seminar. What an experience! It was three days jam-packed with all kinds of activities, from information sessions, to painting from a live model, to exhibits of sample portraits, to lavish entertainment. The southern hospitality was truly impressive, and everyone was warmly welcomed and treated royally. Here I am at the live painting session with my friend Michele Rushworth, otherwise known as the "Gubernatorial" Portrait painter because she is fast becoming known in the western states for her paintings of governors. The photo was taken by another friend, portrait painter extraordinaire, Chris Saper.

More Recent Awards

I just learned that my portrait Nan Talking received an Honorable Mention from the Portrait Society of America in their 2007 Members Only Competition, entitled "Taking it Outside: The Figure in an Outdoor Environment." Among others, Garth Herrick and John Ennis, also received Honorable Mentions!

The Juror, Edward Jonas, says the following: "The criteria {for judging] are . . . based on drawing, composition, color, light, and use of pictorial space. . . .artists needed to show special sensitivity and attention to temperature and light source. Often challenging for artists is the need to adjust their palette to compellingly and accurately capture direct light, ambient light and the overall temperature of light in color and atmospheric effects."

For some reason I don't see too many awards of any kind placed on portraits of middle-aged or older women. It's a different story with portraits of older men, especially if they are "characters" in some way--if they have a long, flowing beard, for instance. But unfortunately women can't grow beards (at least we aren't supposed to).

In this portrait of Nan, I tried to capture visually her accent, which is mostly German and maybe slightly British. That was the motivation behind this, and also showing the liveliness and character of her features in the bright sunlight.

On another note, The Duet, the painting below, received a Top 100 Award from the ARC, excellent and very unexpected news! For a review of the ARC show, click here.