Rachel's Menagerie
1999-2001. Acrylic. 14" x 17"
A portrait of my elder daughter, Rachel (when she was 3), who loves animals. Most of the animals are African in origin, but the tiger, of course, is from Asia. I originally intended to paint a lion, but I felt that the piece needed more color, and anyway, I wanted to paint a tiger, so I painted a tiger .
When I first showed this to Rachel she was unimpressed (can’t all daddies do that?). But as she grew older, she began to appreciate the piece, and the work that I put into it. A few years later I decided to paint a similarly themed portrait of my younger daughter, but that one took a lot longer to complete.
