53. Jesus

The original hipster.

I went to St. Mary's grammar school and St. Joseph's High School.  This portrait was everywhere, standard issue at the time.

Swedish Jesus.  Hollywood Jesus.  Three Dog Night Jesus.  Superstar.

Looks like a nice guy.

52. Erin

Daughter of my good friends Jim and Janine.  As a result, she's been to more Phish shows than I have.  It's not fair.

Her first communion.  This is the studio portrait they have framed on the mantel.  It was a challenge.  I wanted to try something different, make a drawing that was all white more or less, with mostly line work.  Think I was looking at Ingres at the time.

It's okay, not crazy about the smoky haze surrounding her.  A cop-out on my part.  Although... it is kind of like the smoky haze you might see... at a Phish show....  

Whoa.   

51. Jon

Yuh-Boy.  Musician and scholar.  Master carpenter.

Jon has been my best friend since freshman year.  We've never lost touch and I still see him all the time.  He is my friend to the end, and I absolutely love him.

When I graduated from college my whole family came up to Providence the day before, we went out to dinner and my mom let me borrow her new Impala for the night.  I went to my girlfriend's to help her pack.  It was a weird, sad night, alternately spent packing up her stuff and bursting into tears.  The next day we were saying goodbye to RISD, and we were also saying goodbye to each other, but we didn't want to admit it.  I thought the day I graduated from college was going to be a victory dance, but it was one of the saddest days of my life.

I parked the Impala on the corner of Waterman and Prospect, at the top of the hill, and when I went out in the morning I saw that somebody had crashed into the back of it during the night.  The tail light was smashed, the fender was messed up.  Bad way to start a bad day.  Plus it was pouring rain.

When my mother found out she was not happy.

About ten years later Jon told me he was the one who hit the car.  He said he was having a bad night of his own, bouncing from place to place, and hit a car at one point.  He realized it was me when I told him what happened but he didn't say anything.  And he carried that guilt around for ten years.

It was such a bizarre coincidence I had to laugh - it was like a cheap plot twist.  That day was long gone, the story had passed into legend, but he had to make amends.  Of course I forgave him.

Because love is forgiveness.

50. Mick

Mickey.  Mick.  Mitch.  Mumbly Joe.

One of my oldest friends.  Father of Ethan, Nate and Jake.

When this guy got to college they put a name tag on his door that said "Mitchell Pidgeon."  And ever since then, everybody he knows calls him Mitch.  His kids think his name is Mitch.  His co-workers think his name is Mitch.  It's a farce.  I will never call him Mitch.  Never.

I don't get it.  Think of all the cool guys named Mick.  Mick Jagger.  Mick Jones.  Mickey Mantle.  Mickey Rourke.  Mickey Mouse.

And Mitch?  Mitch Miller?  Mitch, the guy on Baywatch?  Really?

This one's for you, buddy.

50 down, 50 to go.

49. Anna

My sister-in-law.  Married to Gerry, mother of Quin, Christopher and Maria.

Pulitzer price winning columnist for the New York Times and Newsweek.  Best-selling author of One True Thing, Black and Blue, Blessings and Every Last One.

Anna hosts Thanksgiving every year.  It's a family tradition.  It's always great, the whole family is together, some years there are special guests and old friends, and after all these years Anna really knows how to do it right.  It's an incredible feast.  Lucie was just saying how much she was looking forward to it this year.  The smell of the food cooking, all the fireplaces going, seeing her cousins and her grandma, the whole coziness of it all.   It's quite a thing.

I was totally bummed out when I did this drawing.  An epic failure.  Especially after the Sarah Palin portrait.  I choked.  WTF?

I made amends to Anna.  You betcha.

48. Sarah Palin

I'm a liberal Democrat.  I'm not an independent, I don't just lean left, I am all the way Left.  I am hard-wired to hate Republicans.

And yet - the whole time I'm doing this drawing all I can think is oh my god she is so pretty!  Her face is absolutely perfect.  Her teeth, her crazy smile, her nose, her eyes....her eyes.....

Oh crap - I'm in love.

47. William Faulkner

When the shadow of the sash appeared on the curtains it was between seven and eight oclock and then I was in time again, hearing the watch.  It was Grandfather's and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it's rather excrutiating-ly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father's.  I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it.  Because no battle is ever won he said.  They are not even fought.  The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.

46. Nate

Ethan’s little brother.  Nate looks pretty bad-ass here but he’s really a sweet little kid.  

This is one of the best drawings of the series.  I had my A+ Game that day.  It was the first portrait I did using a photo that I personally took specifically for the project.  So – for the first time I had total creative control.  And I liked it!

Wish I could draw like this every damn day.  

45. Herbie

The first real job I had after college was at Venet Advertising in Union, NJ.  At the time it was the largest ad agency in NJ.  Compared to the big shops in NYC, it was tiny, but it did have some major clients like the NJ Lottery, Brickchurch and Pathmark.  It also had illustrators on staff!  I was the Pathmark art coordinator for all the spot art that appeared in ads and circulars. The pay was shitty, but I got to draw all day, so that was good.   It was a blast to see some drawing I did of a roast chicken in the Sunday paper.  Or a box of Corn Flakes I drew on a coupon.

Herbie was my assistant.  He was around 5’ tall, a man-child.  In that pre-digital age we had a room of filing cabinets filled with tiny drawings of cereal, toilet paper, soda, etc.  His job was to get the art, and then put the art back.  Mostly he spent a lot of time leaning on my desk, watching me work and calling me ‘bubala’. 

He was an old Jersey boy who never grew up, couldn’t grow up, and he loved Jackie Robinson.

44. Valerie

A great person, a good friend.  Jordan’s step-mom.

Val asked to be a part of the series and I really let her down.  As a drawing it’s okay, but as a portrait it’s a failure.  Val is much prettier than this.  I think she was disappointed and so was I.  With requests and commissions I try to make people look as good as they can, if not better.  The goal is to be in a frame and on the wall. 

I never made amends to Val, but maybe I should.