Mimi Torchia Boothby

A few years ago, I got a zany idea that I would like to do portraits of a bunch of my neighbors. The first neighbor I tried went back to her home country and it took almost 2 years to get her to pose (she is the mother in law of my neighbor and visits here a month or so every year). The next neighbor was this gentleman. It seems he was shy and I was shy and it took a force of God (his wife) to finally get him to pose for some reference photos. I am happy about how it came out.. and she is too. This is a full sized portrait. I do portrait commissions of people and pets too. In case you’re interested. Thanks for all your comments, I really appreciate them.

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!

He’s waited for what seems like his whole life for her. He just knows if they were together, it would be magic, paradise. They would sing, dance, have beautiful children, they’d own a beautiful car and a big house. But she’s not ready to settle down with him. So he just keeps waiting.

Sometimes you see a photograph and you can’t get it out of your mind. I visit the Shorpy.com website often because he uncovers a wealth of 100 year old negatives, prints them out and then shares them with the rest of us. This young woman can be found on his website in a post titled “Incarcerated, 1919”. Looking at this proud young face, it’s hard for me to imagine what she did wrong. How many wrongs were committed against her before she became desperate and did what, steal bread? Sell her body? Fight back?

this painting is sold