Recently, I was scoffed at.

The in-home studio versus the outside one: it’s not just a matter of preference and practicality.

Love your clients or leave them.

The sweet science of making art for commission. 

I’m not a good painter…

...but my brushes are!

What is the value of art?

Rosie had some idea, but Raha The Riveter knows for sure. 

Starting from the very…middle?

I think it’s a very good place to start. 

But can you jam it under a car seat?

A painting’s process is just beginning when it leaves the studio. So much of what art is relies on its relationship to its viewers—or, in the case of my portrait purses, its wearers. 

On severed fingertips and the only acceptable way to torture oneself

These two little faces, belonging to two delightful little girls, gave me no end of trouble. 

Chú Xam, a Vietnamese-American Uncle Sam

For every portrait I paint, I work from photos I take of my subjects during the course of an interview. For Apple Pie, these photo sessions took a new shape since, as we talked, the subjects tried on different characters. 

This looks like a job for a chicano!

Completed today, another painting from Apple Pie, my upcoming series about what it means to be an American. Most of the subjects in the series are first and second generation American, and Luis falls into this category. 

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