The Visual


The key element in each portrait is the relationship. Life is all about relationships.

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When I draw the portraits, I experience a connection with the person in that moment of creating.

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I don’t know in advance
what the end result will be.

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Paul died not long after I finished this one.

I miss him.

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Children are harder to draw than adults. Their faces are round, smooth. I draw the shadows.

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I have spent hours photographing people. Fascinated by the lives we live, I look through the lens and wonder — who is this person? what makes them laugh?

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Where will that old woman’s steps take her once she turns the corner away from my sight? — finding infinite possibilities in the stories they tell, walking a path that isn’t mine.

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In 1968, I wanted to be a mermaid. I would lie on my bed under the covers, legs pressed tight together, my feet in an odd Mary Poppins pose touching at the heels. I’d peer over the blankets with my eyes scrunched almost shut, waving my flipper feet forward and back. I knew that if I held my legs in that position all through the night, I would wake up in the morning a mermaid.