This week I watched (again) the 1945 version of The Picture of Dorian Gray (Albert Lewin directing Hurd Hatfield, George Sanders, Angela Lansbury), a rich blackish-brown-and-white film, smothered with exotic visual cream sauce--Hurd Hatfield's visage is like a white porcelain doll with black shark's eyes. While looking for photos, I learned there have been at least 10 film versions of Oscar Wilde's 1891 classic story of wish-fulfillment gone bad. I also learned a little about the artists who created the two outstanding "pictures". Portraiture is one of my interests and as it happens, I've spent the last few months trying to capture the youthful and beautiful 1926 photographic likeness of o
Betsy Ross by Ann Huey ~ July 4, 2015 ~ acrylic ~ 8 inches round Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashburn Claypoole. Did she sew the first American flag? No one really knows, as there is no concrete evidence to support it. But, according to those people who we can reliably say "according to ______", she probably was one of the seamstresses who did. Frankly, I don't care. The older I get, the grayer my hair and the "black and white" get. What is it they say...? History is written by the winners. I would add Walt Disney, too, as I blame him for believing all our "heroes" were good guys with beautiful teeth. Elizabeth Griscom, "Betsy", was born in Philadelphia, in 1752, and was a Quaker until she ma
