Mimi Torchia Boothby

Category: portrait

  • Annual Portrait Contest – Agnes

    Gosh, I love painting people’s faces. I get to explore every nook and cranny of their eyes, their smile lines, their noses. I love to play with their hair, especially hair like Agnes’ rich, shiny, curly black hair. I learn so much about a person by painting their portrait. You’d be surprised, even with people…

  • Ilenia – Facebook is better than the telephone

    I have had the good fortune to have found lots of really nice relatives in Italy but for years I have not had a good way to get in touch with them. I wrote letters that were never answered. I made phone calls and could not understand what people were saying because the lines were…

  • Pasquale Riccio and Angelina Grillo

    1989 was the year I fulfilled my dream to travel to Italy to visit my relatives. I had been writing to a cousin named Teresa Riccio for several years and my destination was her house in Sersale, Catanzaro, Calabria. Her parents, Pasquale Riccio (Riccio means hedgehog) and Angelina Grillo (Grillo means cricket) put us up…

  • Santina and the spatulas

    Santina is a cousin by marriage. She was born in Sellia Marina and now lives in Sersale, where she was recently widowed. She has a heart of gold, is a little shy, but kind, hard working, and modest. On this last visit, I stayed with her at her house and she shared her daily routines…

  • Caterina

    As a result of my gift of a portrait I did of my recently deceased cousin to his widow, I suddenly have a few more commissions. The reactions of my Italian cousins to the gifted portrait was “Oh, will you paint a picture of my (daughter, son, parents)?” And so I must introduce you to…