9 Hour turnaround, Nancy Pelosi for The Weekly Standard

I broke a new personal record with this one . . . Nine hours from start to finish.
When you get a call to paint Nancy Pelosi, you take it! Her face was well worth the struggle I undertook to finish this deadline! I was given this assignment late Thursday night. The final art is due by the end of the next day . . .

I didn't get to work until around 8:00 a.m. Did a really quick sketch, got it approved, and by 9:30 a.m. I was painting like a mad-man. To start and finish an illustration in one day is a challenge to say the least. You've got to always be thinking a few steps ahead. For example, I remember that when I was painting the nose, I was thinking about how I was going to paint the chalk board.

There is no time to sit back and reflect, it's just GO TIME! Paint, paint, paint! I realized I wasn't going to have time to eat lunch unless I got some help, and luckily my wife came through for me and bought me a sandwich from Subway, which I literally ate with my left hand while painting with my right.

This type of a deadline can be stressful, but I also find that there is an energy and a life to the work that I really enjoy. I like the painterly look as well. And though there may be little things here and there that bother me about this piece, I truly had a blast, developed new ways to paint faster, and realized new ways "how not to do things" . . . I love my job!







Dunce Pelosi Detail.




Final product.