Month: October 2022

On October 1st, our dear friend Candy Saunders succumbed to cancer. A therapist, social worker and professor, she helped thousands of people. “Throw a stone in the pond, you’ll never know where the ripples go,” is certainly true of Candy, who taught mental health professionals how to treat trauma. “Candy was luminous and so radiantly there,” said a mutual friend. We were blessed to be Candy’s neighbor for over 35 years. I hope my portrait of her captures her irresistible smile. You are deeply missed by so many, dear friend.

Andrew and Eva, our son and daughter-in-law, had a healthy, beautiful baby boy last Monday, October 17th! Here are Andrew, Maggie (age 4 1/2) and Jasper this morning. Below that is a painting I did of Eva when Maggie was a baby (ink with brush and pen on rice paper). At birth, Jasper was one ounce under 11 pounds (and Maggie was also over ten pounds), not surprising since Andrew is 6’4″ and Eva is 5′ 11 1/2″.

Linda Stout is the most accomplished and inspiring person I have known in my lifetime. The daughter of a tenant farmer, a 14th generation Quaker, for 40 years Linda has trained activists across the U.S. and in over 20 countries who are reach across race and class to empower people and get out the vote. This portrait was my present for her retirement party from Spirit in Action last weekend.

This painting was made with watercolor inks (red, blue, green), then painted with strips of clean water which allow it to bleed. I made a two-minute video of the process, which you can watch on my YouTube channel by clicking here. Details below.

Last week I took a portrait workshop with Pam Wenger. This is one of the portraits she gave us to paint. Pam, who is an excellent teacher, specializes in putting “arbitrary colors” in her portraits, as you can see at her website.