Mimi Torchia Boothby

So this morning, I got out my paints and was going to paint some flowers. I just got this amazing tube of yellow paint that plays REALLY well with other colors and my plan was to paint some little flowers that are pink and yellow, yellow and red, yellow and magenta, like I had done last night but hopefully better. And while I was wasting time on Facebook I noticed one of my Facebook friends was attending his daughter’s graduation from Naval Academy. And on the way there his wife took this amazing photo of him. I knew right then I had to paint it.
Never do I think, I am going to get into trouble for painting someone because I always ask before I post it, and I also wait until I know it’s going to be good enough to show before I do.
Now, since I have your attention, the reason this man is my Facebook friend is because he has run a program to teach inner city kids to be cyclists, it’s called “Free Wheels for Kids“. So he’s not just cool looking, he’s a cool guy too.
And so I made him smile, his wife smile, me smile and one hundred of our Facebook friends are smiling too. All this on the eve of my birthday!

This commissioned painting celebrates one of the more exciting bike rides I have ever been on. It was a race! an uphill race!
Each team must consist of three people, and both sexes need to be on each team. One year, my husband Donald talked me into participating and put me on the back of a tandem with a big strong fast rider named Pete with my other team mate being my son Tom! Yes, it was irresistible. I told him I was afraid to go too fast (there were downhills involved too) and he told me when I got scared, to just shut my eyes. So I did! We came in third and came home with fancy mugs. Later I heard my husband and Pete talking about how we had gone up to 55 mph!
The Redmond Cycling Club is putting together another Menage a Trois race for 2014 and this little painting will be used to advertise it.
The race will be held on February 16th, a Sunday from 10am to 2pm at Carnation Farm, in Carnation, Washington. I will be one of the volunteers there, my racing days are over. Well, at least for now.

Sophie was an older dog who was a regular at Seward Park Clay studio, where I have been spending much of my time. She was not noteworthy herself (in my opinion) but the relationship she had with her human was very sweet. I watched them interact day after day, and then one day, she was gone. Her human was absolutely crushed. Instead of banter, there was silence.
The studio had a memorial party, with lots of good food, and people talked about Sophie. Sophie’s human had more than one surprise from the stories the other potters told.
Several potters had also made clay models of Sophie. I decided to paint her likeness. I am glad I attended.

I was recently inspired by another watercolor artist’s rendition of bicycles, so I tried painting some again. I tried two different color schemes and two different methods. What do you think? The brown version is 5″ x 7″ I am asking $75.00 for it. The blue version is about 8″ x 10″ and I am asking $100 for this one.

The holidays are coming. Buy American made and support a great cause at the same time!

I have been painting a lot of postcards lately because of the mail art swaps I have been doing and Enza is the one cat I have that actually enjoys modelling.
In the first painting, she poses regally on her red throne. In the second, I roughed her fur up a little to make her look rustic and I put her on a rough-hewn fence. These are both 4″ x 6″ postcards and if you hurry, I might sell you one. All proceeds go to endangered animal conservation, so if you buy my art, you are saving some wild creatures in some corner of the world.