raul is the only one with a mohawk in his tiny town of castine, maine. i think that says a lot. am hoping to do more portrait work this year. been feeling very inspired by the life and work of portrait painter alice neel. i bought two books of her work and checked out another three from the library. mornings and nights have been spent reading all of them. this one is my favorite, since most of the book is filled with interviews of alice telling her own story. she talks about her life, her ideas on art, and the world at large. it was the painting on the cover of this book that pulled me into her work. i am eager to watch the documentary on her life directed by her grandson.

paintings by alice neel.

  
from an interview in the book "alice neel" by harry n. abrams- "when i give lectures to these young people-for instance in baltimore i was once on a symposium, and all they wanted to do was "to make it". and i said to them: don't you know that before you make it, you have to have something to make it with. i think to go to new york and soho right off is absurd; you should shop around yourself, see what it is. see what your art is, and then when you think you've made some discovery, go in and do it. but don't do like me, don't just put it on the shelf."

"all experience is great providing you live through it. i would tell these art classes of art students, the more experience you get, the better, if it doesn't kill you. but if it kills you, you've gone too far. that's all. you never learn anything like you learn it by experiencing it".

-alice neel