Lisbeth, Fierce and Tender Gift from the Queen of Heaven

I made this portrait of Lisbeth two years ago while at MECA as part of my senior thesis project , Portraits from My Father's Chair, a series of eighty portraits of the MECA creative community. Lisbeth wanted me to draw her wearing her "Milkweed" coat. Milkweed is Lisbeth's all white cat. She is all white with blue eyes, a pink nose and pink ears, and is Lisbeth's constant companion and guardian angel. Lisbeth's house is a shrine to Milkweed - there are photos of her cat everywhere in all kinds of gaudy frames - pink fur frames, diamond rhinestone frames, gold filigree frames. So when it came time for me to frame Lisbeth's portrait for the senior thesis show, I made a gold, rhinestone, and white fur frame!
You can see in one of the details how I used some of Lis's snowflakes as a stencil to spraypaint the background of the portrait.

Lisbeth, Fierce and Tender Gift from the Queen of Heaven (we cannot have all things that please us), 2006

pastel, charcoal, oil, watercolor, collage and spraypaint on Rives BFK, 29" x 41" unframed.
Not for Sale.