Beloved...and some cup cakes...

I made this painting last December but have been waiting to post it. Linda, who is a regular reader of this blog, commissioned it as a gift for her friend A's birthday. ...But the birthday wasn't til today ...so I've been sitting on it as not to ruin surprise. It's been living on the corner of my painting table and I have been making small changes here and there over the past 2 month's while working on other things.

Linda gave me some information about A and told me to take it from there. She sounds like a fun and busy person. The thing Linda stressed most here was to involve swing dancing with a round skirt in motion. Linda also gave me the word "beloved" to express her feeling toward her friend. When I pushed her for more... she added cupcakes.

The cupcakes on the shoes was Beth's idea. She pulled that out of nowhere and made a crude drawing of it. I wish I could find that drawing. (I used the acupuncture needle brush for the tiny cupcakes).

I like this painting and am impressed because I don't think it looks like I painted it. The mother of one of Theo's friends came to our house a couple of months ago and saw my painting set up. She asked "Do you paint?", and then saw this painting in the corner and said, "oh, your wife paints". She thought this must have been painted by a woman. What a compliment! "I pulled it off", I thought. I made a decent painting of a skirt and shoes.

Before posting this, I emailed Linda and asked her if there was anything she wanted me to write (or not write) here as I do before posting some one's painting. She is the first person to actually give me something. I usually get "whatever you want". Than I go on about phrenology or Teddy Roosevelt.

Here is what she said:
I think I would say that I didn't know how you would capture such a will-o-the-wisp person in a painting...but you did...the joyousness of it is the key.

Thank You Linda!
...and Happy Birthday A!!!

...still struggling...

I've painted and repainted my niece's portrait many times now. I can't get it. In a small painting slump... so I'm going to move on and do one more painting and then go back. I think I just need to find a new way to approach this... But I'll get it.
I've been more industrious working on some larger landscape paintings. Landscape is something new for me and I'm very excited about it. These pieces all involve power lines and antennae and the clutter that makes our lifestyles possible. All of this working on principles that feel like harnessed magic. These paintings are ambiguously narrative in nature.
I'll post them on my website (www.johnmegas.com) when I update and revamp it. Soon...