Still on a Roll and with a Deadline

April 27 I fly to Ukraine. Happy birthday, me! Either the stupidest thing I've ever done or the smartest, I can't decide and probably never will know. So, let's post what we finish when we get a few of them this month. May will be not much in the way of art.

First up, I finished "Young Still, 2012." The model is my friend Darina but the blue, yellow, and orange of her suit refers to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004-05. I think the people of the steppes and forests have suffered much and wish the best for them. The torso is out of proportion so the fold line is between the psuedo-navel and the tattoo-signature. No, she doesn't have a tattoo, but it seemed like a fun way to sign this one.























Second is another one based on a Darina photo, but unfinished. Darina is one of my Ukraine penpals and is also a painter; one of hers follows. I'm giving her "Young Still, 2012" as a gift, and this one, form in bikini, as a collaboration she requested. I think it will pass as a self portrait when she finishes it.




















Unnamed portrait from Darina C.


















Finally, this is a real-life event, a memory. In 1998 on a December down-island haul from St. Lucia to Grenada our flotilla of yachts full of Californians and Texans -- there were four boats -- anchored in the Tobago Cays. Captain Doug Kleckner, who organized the group and taught me to sail, had contacts and arranged a party one night on Jamesby Island. If you look up Jamesby Island, Tobago Cays, you'll see why this was special. "Generator Jammin': Jamesby Island, Tobago Cays, St. Vincent-Grenadines, West Indies."