In a previous post I mentioned my musician/artist friend John.

Portrait of John Booth, Pastel, 1979

John and I took turns modeling for one another.  He was strongly influenced by John Singer Sargent.  I think Sargent would have been pleased with John’s paintings.  I recall a life-size painting of his wife in the garden gathering flowers.  The painting took my breath away.  I hope he is still alive and well.  I hope he is still painting.

During the late 70’s I did a great number of portraits.  Then I stopped.  I moved in a more experimental direction.  In 2005 I began to get the urge to include hands, heads and feet on the abstract, thrown paint watercolor figures that I had become known for.  I found I had become rusty at heads.  Every head looked like me.  Looking back at these older paintings is fueling the urge to return to studying facial expressions and character portraits.