Portraits
“American Beauty: 1950”
18 × 24 inches
graphite, charcoal, oil on panel
From a professional modeling session photograph, this painting captures my mother when she modeled in New York City before she was married.
“Elise”
10.5 × 14 inches
graphite and charcoal on paper
My beautiful friend is looking at Donald, her new husband.
“Kitchen Table”. 27.5 × 23.5 inches, oil on panel.
Thanksgiving was the most important holiday in our family, and we all gathered at our childhood home every year. We had 17 kids between us. Many years later, Dad was in a hospital bed in the kitchen while the cooking, playing, talking and laughing happened all around him. I'm sure he heard it all, and passed away the day after the holiday, surrounded by his family.
“Sunday Morning”. 14 × 18.5, pastel on paper.
My mother, a newlywed, reads the Sunday New York Times at her home in Englewood, New Jersey. Many years and five children later, she'd often sit with the paper after work, with the same intense expression, shutting out the chaos that swirled around her.
“Undecided”
22.5 × 30 inches
mixed media on paper
Sadness. Uncertainty. Someone close, unmarried and pregnant, is pulled in two directions.
“Boston Sublet: The Last Goodbye”
16 × 20 inches
oil and cold wax on panel
This is the first in a series of three related works about the pain of separation from our daughter. Here our family is helping her fix up an apartment for the summer. The second painting is "HIdden City", and the third is "George, Unearthed."
“Hidden City”
18 × 23.5 inches
oil and cold wax on panel
Hidden City began as the portrait entitled "Boston Sublet: The Last Goodbye", a depiction of my estranged daughter and her brother as we all helped to fix up an apartment for her. The painting was too painful to live with after she had gone, so I slashed electric blue paint across the panel and rubbed out the oranges, yellows and greens. Gradually, the original cityscape emerged, as though replacing sorrow with the energy and life of a vibrant hidden city.
“George, Unearthed”
18 × 23.5
oil and cold wax on panel
This is the third iteration of the original painting "Boston Sublet", following the second iteration, "Hidden City". I needed to uncover my son, standing apart from the inferno the estrangement has caused for everyone in our extended family.
“Study for Caroline”
18 × 24 inches, charcoal on paper
“Caroline, Abstracted”
18 × 24 inches, pastel and oil on paper
Caroline loved the color purple, but her passionate personality radiated red.
“Gentled”
22 x 30 inches
pastel on paper
A beautiful young trainer is relaxed and confident, completely in control of the mercurial 1,500-pound horse eating out of her hand. She turns to him, and he presses himself against her body.
The trust between them makes what she asks of him possible, and is the driving force behind the portrait.
Click the image to enlarge.
“Kathleen Patricia”
7 x 11 inches
charcoal, pencil on paper
Click the image to enlarge.
From the many professional shots available in my mother’s New York City modeling portfolio, I chose this pose for her portrait. Her beauty and work ethic enabled her to escape the poverty her family endured during the Depression.
“Brianna Kathleen”
10 x 11 inches
pencil, charcoal on paper
Click to enlarge the image.
I worked on this portrait of my daughter, who is as beautiful as her grandmother, by sticking it up with magnets on the side of the refrigerator when I was watching my children paint on the kitchen table.
“Emily and Katherine”
22 x 30 inches
pastel on paper
You can see the love my nieces felt for each other in this fleeting moment of childhood, a summer portrait.
Click to enlarge the image.
“Dewey”
20 x 30 inches
pastel on paper
A portrait commission fraught with emotion right from the start.
My very assertive client was devastated by Dewey's diagnosis of incurable cancer. Sure that death could be prevented from stealing her companion, she hired me to keep Dewey alive long after he had gone. She wanted an exact depiction — a clone in every physical characteristic. She was proud of his power and strength, his loyalty and obvious intelligence. At the end of our first meeting she warned me, "When you take that cloth off the final portrait, I want to see MY dog."
I spent hours with both of them. I took photographs. I plucked hairs from Dewey’s coat to color-match. I studied his movements, absorbed his personality, appreciated his great dignity, and felt the strong bond between them.
I chose a photograph that showed Dewey in a pose he surely assumed often: listening intently to his mistress' voice, staring at her with complete attention, anticipation and respect.
Dewey had passed away when the portrait was finally ready for its grand unveiling. I pulled away the cloth and held my breath. My client stared at the painting, silent. Suddenly tears streamed down her face, and she cried, "That's my dog!"
Click to enlarge the image. Read more about the challenges of animal portraiture.
"Boxers' Day Out" 22 x 24 inches, pastel on paper
"Brutus". 25 x 20 inches, pastel on paper
"Murphy" 20 x 25 inches, pastel on paper
"Tiger" 22 x 30 inches, pastel on paper