I have submitted an oil painting of William Shatner and a few linoleum prints. He was a tough subject, having no real distinctive features. At one point in the process he resembled Chekhov more than Captain Kirk but I forged ahead to the best of my abilities at present. My husband had the brilliant idea of replacing the Starship Enterprise with the Canadarm. Here's a quick snapshot of the painting - he doesn't look quite so yellow in real life.

This is a quick little oil study of Josephine on cheap canvas board. I painted it while talking on the phone one night, hence the roughness. I wanted to get a feel for her features as I choose to discern them from the many varied portraits she posed for during her reign as Empress of France. This one is based on a painting by Antoine Jean Gros, a neoclassical painter and student of Jacques-Louis David. I haven't investigated his life in great depth but it appears to have the trajectory of a meteoric rise and fall culminating in suicide, a sadly common end for misunderstood artists.

 I have no idea why I reversed the image in my copy - perhaps it's the effect of all that backward thinking I engage in while carving linoleum. This image was pulled from a wonderful blog, "Madame Guillotine," by author of historical fiction, Melanie Clegg. I stumbled upon her work in my search for Josephine and have added her books to my reading list. I am especially keen to read "The Secret Diary of a Princess," a novel about Marie Antoinette, the next subject on my own hit list. I love the tag line on Melanie's blog: "Kill them all if they won't eat cake." 'Nuff said.