1) Yesterday I trotted off to the framers with a sketch portrait of Mother that we found in the back of the guest room closet. I have a tentative plan to turn the dining room in a Rogue’s Gallery of family portraits. We have no Romneys or Sargents, but I do have a fine childhood self-portrait of Oldest Nephew Who Must Not Be Tagged (that also needs to be reframed, come to think of it).
1a) This must have been done when she was in college at LSU. There’s something not quite right about her eyes, but I still like it a lot.
1b) John Singer Sargent famously exploded “A paughtrait is something that is not quite right about the mouth!” after a testy conference with the Sassoon family, who didn’t quite like his portrait of one of its ladies.
2) The enormity of my new venture presses on me as I make arrangements. I ordered business cards from ye Vystypryntte this weekend . . .
3) Two months ago today the movers arrived from the homeland, and you’d think it was just yesterday the way everything is heaped around here! I’ve got to arrange that blessed yard sale.
3a) But at least I was able to find a home for this beautiful photograph of my grandmother around the time of her confirmation (I suppose) in this Fauxbergé frame I gave Mother for Christmas one year (and which she didnt end up using).
