Holly Smith's Lichtenstein- Pop Art Portrait

I saw Roy Lichtenstein's signature piece (a personal favorite), Whamm (1963) at the Tate Modern gallery in London in 2009. The painting is 5' 7" x 13' 4" (I love large paintings - it absolutely dominates the massive room it hangs in.)

I confess I was surprised by one characteristic of Lichtenstein's art - the close up detail is, well, a bit sloppy. Not as intentioned as I would like to see. By intentioned, I am referring to the characteristic of a line that is totally confident. You can see this in the stoke of a pen or brush where the line starts with a clear intention, follows through with purpose and confidence and ends boldly.

I first saw the beauty of this in the lines delineated by a professional sign painter. He had painted thousands of 'A's in his career and the sweep and speed of his work was mesmerizing. The lines he created were so unique, so powerful.

I tried to accomplish this intentionality with Holly's portrait (my daughter). The lines in her hair for example are classic thick/thin inspired from ink drawings and comic art. The minimalism and the contrasts are pure Pop art as are the primary colors used.

By the way, I show here the Whamm panel as well as the original comic book panel from All-American Men of War #89, 1962 (DC Comics) that Lichenstein used.

Randy Bachman, Canada's Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame!

Back in high school in the 60's, Randy Bachman used to skip high school classes to play guitar with the yet unknown Lenny Breau. Many years later, Lenny's son Chet had his first exposure to guitar (believe it or not) through my brother Tim, who is clearly the most talented guitar player in our family.

Since I can't do it through music, I chose to pay homage to Randy Bachman through pop art - after all, he is a Canadian superhero and deserves his own splash page.

First with the Guess Who, who became one of the biggest selling groups in the world and then BTO, Randy penned dozens of classic rock songs and memorable lead riffs, including Taking Care of Business to American Woman.

This painting on a 24" x 36" gallery wrapped canvas was commissioned for the Sapphire Technologies Charity Auction in November of 2009. The painting is signed by the artist as well as Randy himself.