This was actually the Billie Holiday portrait that I had in mind, when I thought of painting her...the first one was just an afterthought. This painting is to accompany the Charles Mingus portrait that I did early on in this series. It's the same size and has a gold pattern in the back just like his. I got the idea for her portrait when I was in Rajasthan and saw all the women dressed in these intense pink saris...and I thought - hey, Billie Holiday would look good in pink, too.....

This is a bit different than my jazz portrait series, but I had fun doing this...these two guys own the shop in my apartment complex. They are two brothers from Kerala, and are dear to me because they are the closest vendors who sell chocalate. Very important. When I gave them the portrait, they had a good giggle at the awkwardness of the situation, and then said it would be shipped off to their mother in Kerala. I guess I'll take that as a compliment.