christine castro & rama hughes

when the urge to draw strikes, anything can become a drawing material. at one of our favorite restaurants, i used hoisin sauce to doodle this portrait of christine (above). the waiter was so intrigued that he borrowed the plate to show off around the restaurant. when we returned a month or two later, the same waiter brought our utensils, water, plates, and ~ with a hopeful look ~ another squirt bottle of hoisin sauce. "i think it's your turn," i told my wife. she drew this portrait of me (below).

andy diconti & jana bouc

"i liked andy (portrayed above) from the moment i saw his photo," jana (portrayed below) said of this swap. i agree with her. andy's got a kind and interesting face. so does jana though.

marie-dom bolt & andy diconti

marie-dom (portrayed above) really likes how andy (portrayed below) drew her. "i like his style and mark making very much," she said.

heidi banford & jamie williams

heidi (portrayed above) continues her quest to draw everyone ~ you go girl!* ~ with this portrait of jamie (below).

*can i pull off a "you go girl"?

john holdway & marie-dom bolt

here's an another exemplary portrait swap. newcomers take notes! john (portrayed above) shared his contact info and marie-dom (portrayed below) contacted him about trading portraits. they exchanged photos and here are the results! if anyone else would like to trade portraits, john is especially excited to hear from you.

The Portrait Party gets more "Ink"!

the portrait party was featured today in the talk of our town column in the Miami Herald! thanks so much to joan fleischman who gave such care to the story, congratulations to all of you who were mentioned, and welcome herald readers!

The Portrait Party ON AIR!!!

i'm going to take a little hiatus from the portrait party this week. please continue to send your swaps! i'll resume posting them no later than april 15th (when i will also announce the winners of the happy birthday contest). in the meantime, feel free to check out the podcast that i did with danny gregory for his new book, an illustrated life. our conversation touched on everything from the true meaning of talent (in my opinion) to the origin of the portrait party.