Gen. George S. Patton, Samuel Ryskind
(By the way, click on the image. Doesn't get bigger, but the light improves.)
Have to brag a bit on the Official Cartoonist of Wheat &Weeds, who recently completed this commissioned portrait of Gen. Patton. Unfortunately no photo is adequate to the task of capturing it, even if this one is better than the attempts I had up earlier [this post has been altered to reflect a better photo to comment on-- RC2]. You just have to take my word for it that like everything Ryskind does, the light is radiant in this, and the detail on the hands and rings is exquisite.
In my tear-prone middle age I'm suddenly sensitive to beauty, and as soon as he unveiled this it brought a tear to my eye. It's that good.
It also feels like after a 72-hour un-medicated labor the baby's finally been born. The commission came before he was called up for Iraq and he couldn't complete it because of an artist's block of some kind. Never satisfied with it. Then he was called up and I figured he'd just lose the commission. But no, it waited for him...and with the most glorious result.
It might be gauche to post before the sponsor has even seen it, but this brought me so much happiness I couldn't wait.
