Marilyn

Artists love Marilyn Monroe. Warhol is a good example.
And yet I believe that the best photos of her are the natural ones. No posing. No studio session. No fakeness. She defined natural beauty. And we consumed her with our obsession for pretty.
(A beautiful deer staring precious seconds too long into the headlights of an oncoming car.) I found this shot years ago in a Nike ad and loved it. (Thank you, Janet Champ and Jim Riswald at Wieden+Kennedy.) I did a little research and found that it was taken of her after a long day on the movie set. Wrapped in a terry cloth robe, leaning out the window of her dressing room for a bit of fresh air. Click. And she still looks radiant. If you open the pic above you can see my pencil sketches ... almost done.

My Reservoir of Possibilities

I just discovered my "reservoir" of possibilities: an overstuffed folder filled with pictures torn from magazines. I spent about an hour culling down the pile. What's left are about 18 portrait candidates, ranging from David Bowie to Georgia O'Keeffe to Johnny Cash to Walter Cronkite to Daniel Day-Lewis.

As I reviewed my 18 possibilites, I realized that my style has truly evolved. I started years ago by mimicing Patrick Nagel. His work was incredible and perfectly captured the sexiness and energy of the 80's. He died too young. But now I have gravitated to faces with more character. Wild hair. Wrinkles. Zesty expressions. There's one of Keith Richards that's begging to be produced.

Heck, with that criteria, he may be my masterpiece.