Friday, April 8, 2011

Warts an’ all…

I have just spent the last hour searching for a self-portrait that I painted in the days when most of my facial features (including a wart on my chin) were hidden behind a bushy beard.  I needed the painting to illustrate today’s theme: a quote from Toulouse-Lautrec, “...warts find no mercy with me; I love to decorate them with mischievous little hairs, to round them off and put a shining tip on them.” 

My search was in vain.  Surely, the painting, warts an’ all, hasn’t sold.  However, as I leafed through one portfolio after another, I came across this sketch, very much in the style of Lautrec, which I made in a Leeds nightclub aptly named The Pleasure Rooms.  It is as close as I’ll ever get to the dance halls of Montmartre.



1 comment:

  1. Was it Oliver Cromwell who is reputed to have wanted his portrait painting 'warts and all'? You are in good company!

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