Museum for the Blind

Finished up Museum for the Blind. It's at My Good Babushka.

And just for fun, during my lunch break on two days, I made these two miniature portraits of John Flansburgh and John Linnell. We’ve all been on a They Might Be Giants kick for the last few months at this house. These are on bamboo tile. They are 1.5″ x 3/4″. I really like Victorian portrait miniatures, and I wanted to do portraits in that style, as small as I can.

John Singer Sargent said something to the effect that a portrait is a painting with something a little wrong with the mouth. I thought these were pretty fair likenesses, and when one crumples up the source image and puts it in the wastebasket, the likeness becomes even better!

I’m always looking for different materials to paint on. I tried plaster cameos, but they are too brittle. I found a package of bamboo tiles and they work pretty well if you sand them down. These have two holes drilled down through them vertically, so they can be wired and added to jewelry. I have varnished them and handed them over to my spouse. He’s the jewelry guy. I’m sure he’ll come up with something.