“”The Star of the County Down”
Pencil, pastel, and watercolor
2021
NFS
The client who commissioned this can call this portrait of his
mother whatever he pleases, but this is my title for it (as it is of an Irish song I played on repeat while finishing this small portrait this afternoon, so that it can be mailed off tomorrow in time for Christmas). The son who commissioned this is a handsome, tall (6’6″, as I recall) fellow who leads a markedly glamorous (by my standards) life. The family is from East Carolina, and his father once dated Ava Gardner. ‘Nuff said. He commissioned this painting a few months ago. My reaction was to ask him “So…..is EVERYBODY in your family tall and gorgeous?”. He allowed as how, yes, they were…….and he added that his beautiful mother did pretty well for a “farmer’s daughter from East Carolina”. In any case, wasn’t she a natural beauty? Hence, the song……….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLi6TH7O4yU