kerstin's son, david (portrayed above), was the only member of her immediate family with whom she hadn't swapped portraits. when she asked if he would draw her, he said: "i can only draw pirates and vikings and ships and treasures and monsters. but not you. it wouldn´t be nice." when he gave her the drawing (below), she asked him what the black line on top of her head was. he rolled his eyes. "mom, that´s your long ponytail of course".
one of the many little details that i (portrayed above) love about my mom is that she adorns herself with all with all the little tchatckes that her kids have given her over the years. she doesn't wear them all at once of course but, when we come to visit, the bracelets and necklaces and clothes and buttons all go into circulation. i was especially touched by the spider-fan button that she wore for this portrait (below) because i know she wouldn't wear if she didn't love me so much. "my son, the nerd!" it proclaims.
by the way, i teased her for trying to smile throughout this entire drawing but, like a master yogi, she kept it up for the full ten minutes. i was impressed.
when my brother (portrayed above) saw the portrait that my wife (portrayed below) drew of him, he admired how much her drawings had improved since the last time he saw them. "that really looks like me," he approved. the compliment meant so much to christine that, almost a week later, she asked "remember what henry said about my drawings?!" i've been telling you that all year! i exclaimed. "i know," she shrugged. i guess we've come to that point in our marriage where my compliments have ceased to affect her that much. well, i decided eventually, i'm honored to be the man whose compliments don't matter to christine.
and, traditionally, henry is a very harsh critic. so, his compliments do mean a lot to everyone.
my dad (portrayed above) got the evil eye from my mom (portrayed below) because she posed with a big smile and he drew every tooth. can we say it all together, guys? "SMILES ARE HARD DRAW!"
this drawing of christine (above) is not the best portrait that i have done of her. i am tempted to blame it on the time limit but the portrait that she drew of me (below) is one of her best.
i would say "the best" but she drew an even better one a few days later.
my dad (portrayed expertly above) amused all of us by adding weird details to his portraits. henry's bowtie below, for example, was a figment of his imagination.
this is the swap that i longed to see when i urged my family to have another portrait party. my mom (portrayed above) has an especially wonderful and difficult-to-predict drawing style. i was curious to see what would happen when she and christine (portrayed below) turned their pens on each other.
my brother, henry (portrayed above), has a long and proud history of ironic and experimental hairdos. they are always fun to draw. he captured me (below) on the first day of my attempt to grow a beard. the results of that experiment were too embarrassing to share.
my dad, "donaldo scrapaldo" (portrayed above), joined our portrait party a little late. christine was surprised when i admired the likeness that he captured of her (below). "really?!" she exclaimed. "yeah..." i said. it looks like an early r.crumb of my beautiful wife.
i'm just guessing here but this swap looks like dual self-portraits / portraits by chloe (above) and by morgan (below). i was tempted to post it a long time from now (for top secret reasons) but it's such a good idea that i had to spread it fast.
this portrait swap between my brother, henry (portrayed above), and my mom, lauren (portrayed below), reveals a couple of great tricks for making fast drawings look dynamite. both portraits were done in two minutes but every page of my mom's sketchbook is pre-painted and pre-collaged and my brother did all of his drawings with tempura paint. both tricks gave their portraits a painterly quality that blew us all away.
i am pleased to announce that kerstin klein is the winner of the portrait party scavenger hunt. kerstin was the runner-up in the first portrait party contest but, with an actual factual portrait party, she sniped the scavenger hunt from jennifer m. lee.
