Portraits of Mary
24 June 2021 PORTRAITS OF MARY Today is the sixtieth anniversary of my marriage to Mary. Over those six decades Mary has supported and encouraged me in many ways, and has also been quite literally my muse. Over the years I have made several portraits of her. Here are a few favorites. In the 1970s when I was exploring stained glass, I made a Celtic cross necklace for Mary. I took several photos of her wearing the necklace at the time, and years later used them as a reference for this painting, "Mary in Black." The painting is acrylic on canvasboard, now framed and hanging over my stand-up desk in our library. Another favorite is "Mary on Blue," also acrylic, this time on gallery-wrapped canvas. I later did a smaller variation on this to fit a thriftstore found frame. The frame shape and baroque style made me think of a cameo, inspiring both the style and coloring of the small painting and it's title, "Mary Cameo." It sits on my desk at our