This week I’ve been working on a portrait of my sister, Pat.
My source was this picture that I took several years ago at the Milwaukee Art Museum. It’s been on our
refrigerator for months . . . and it struck me recently that it was good source material for a drawing and painting.
I worked on the drawing for about a week, and also have been working on preparing the canvas board for the portrait. I’ve been layering different shades of orange acrylic paint on the board, trying to apply at least 2 coats every time I was at my studio.
Here’s the result of today’s work:
My Life In Pencils & Paint 
This is beautiful, Dwayne. You have such an excellent talent at capturing spirit and personality. Reminds me of the sketches I saw at the Denver Art Museum a week ago at the opening of the Xu Beihong exhibit from Beijing. He was also a master at sketching and embodying all that was needed for future use as a developed oil or watercolor portrait. And yet your sketcthes are complete in themselves as well as sources for a stronger portrait. I’m sure I told you that Xu was a contemporary of Pan Yuliang; they knew each other in Shanghai, then saw each other in Paris in the mid-1920s, and he eventually asked her to come back to China in 1928 to teach in the new Central University in Nanjing. Denver is the only museum in the USA that will get this exhibit.