for Chicago Magazine… Geez I haven’t posted in a bit and things are piling up, more soon…
Thank you, Bunny
Deon Cole for Chicago Magazine
Congratulations Town Hall Seattle, part 2
The second part of the Town Hall celebration: portraits of people who have spoken there, my choice! Wow. So many greats over the years! So I went with some of my all-around favorite humans:
Author Rebecca Brown
we’ve been reading Ms. Brown in The Quarantine Book Club, and it is blowing my fragile, stupefied brain. She is a genius, but/and she loves squirrels, so I decided to include one in the publicity portrait…
Jim Belushi
Here’s another job I just love: portraits for Chicago Magazine’s Back Page; interviews of Chicago notables. I’ve drawn government notables, authors, foodies, tv personalities… but here’s one of my favorites thus far: actor Jim Belushi. Such a twinkle in his eye!
Covidance
…as in, Covid Dance
Congratulations Town Hall Seattle, part 1
Dream job: portraits to celebrate the multi-million dollar renovation and re-opening of my favorite venue!
COMMISSION #1: OTTO
The new bar honors the great philanthropist, whose grandson has been instrumental in making the renovation possible. Town Hall wanted to hang a portrait prominently, but the only available photo is of very poor quality. Illustration to the rescue! I have resuscitated many less-than-stellar photo.
We decided a silhouette would have a more commanding presence. This now hangs proudly, with it’s own pin spotlight, in “The Otto” bar
Rick Bayless, Restauranteur/Yoga Master
Chicago Magazine’s art director’s requested I incorporate Rick Bayless’s other love, yoga, somehow into this month’s portrait and animation. Super fun, a little painful to consider…
Celebrating Entrepreneurs
Earlier this Spring, Square contacted me for an event in London to celebrate a partnership with the Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (Tern), which supports folks who have come to the UK and are trying to grow a small business. They wanted giant portraits for the stage, and sought me because they wanted an artistic coherence unobtainable with mere photos. Great gig, lovely people and cause.
TS Eliot
… because one needs to practice simple animation movements…
Happy Groundhog's Day!
Groundhog’s Day has always been a big deal in the Rathke household; Dad never let’s us forget this major holiday. So this year I made an animation for him and everybody else, that the day should not go unheralded.
Happy Birthday Virginia Woolf!
A few years ago I created a line drawing of Ms. Woolf for Intelligent Life (The Economist) Magazine. More recently I decided I’d like to see a bit of color and texture with this portrait. I incorporated a William Morris print, which really lends a nice atmosphere, I think!
All Hail Sister Jean!
Hooray for a lovely new monthly gig with Chicago Magazine, for whom I will create portraits of local worthies and get to add a bit of animation; FINALLY! First up, the lovely Sister Jean, Loyola University's men's basketball chaplain (do all the teams have their own chaplains??)
SHARP - the key
Okay here is the long-overdue (according to people who are writing in to me) key to the superb women on the cover of SHARP, by Michelle Dean. I'm so glad you all like it enough to write!
Dr. Martin Luther King + Tavis Smiley
A few months ago I got a commission to draw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for a Tavis Smiley event that was to be held Monday in Dr. King’s honor. Mr. Smiley was very particular and sent me very specific notes:
"It's really really lovely! I think the eyes are not quite there yet. I'm not an artist, but I am a collector, and folk tend to get everything about MLK right - except for the eyes. I dislike the national monument in DC for this very reason, the artist didn't capture the eyes. In the pic I sent, his eyes are more pensive, more piercing. I also wonder about the angle, the direction of his gaze. In the pic he looks to be deep thinking, which is why I chose it. A "what's on his mind" kind of thing. In her sketch, he's just looking at you, like a portrait. So, again, it's the eyes. Otherwise, I love it!”
After I made the needed changes, I got this note from him:
“We're cooking with fish grease now! Love it! Let's roll! Tell Kathryn I'm sending her a big hug! Thank you!”
So wasn’t that nice? But then, whoops! Mr. Smiley fell out of favor, engagements cancelled… sigh… Here is how it would have looked on the little booklets:
also, coincidentally, I illustrated a whole book of limericks for Garrison Keillor around that time. Day after I submitted the invoice he got canned. I am of course all for #metoo but crazy how it has affected me adversely!
Guardian Book Review!
Dream Job! Sarah Habershon, wonderful art director at The Guardian, asked me to draw Salmon Rushdie for the cover of the Sunday Book section. What a face! The book skewers the New York money culture that made our current president possible, so she wanted me to include his image somehow. I told her I'd really hoped to go the next 4 years without having to draw him, but I guess that's being unrealistic. I had the idea to present him in a snow globe with black snow, I'm quite tickled with it.
Sgt Rigsby and His Amazing Silhouettes
... getting his moustache groomed by one of his silhouettes
Alaskan Air Magazine contributors
I finally got to draw Seattle's preeminent, omnipresent chef, Tom Douglas, for Alaskan Air Magazine. It was fun because I do enjoy his restaurants and am familiar with his face. The first prelims include a bit of color, at the request of the AD (Margaret Elson):
She thought a bit less color would work better:
At this point Mr. Douglas himself got to review the portrait, and commented that it looked a bit "cat-y" Ha!
the problem, it seems, lay in the crease above his upper lip; it was giving a feeling of felinity. So I removed that, replaced it with some moustache hairs, and voila! Here is how it looks on the page:
animated line for JP Morgan
End of last year JP Morgan contacted me to help to create an animated short for their philanthropic giving division. The art director just sent me the finalized cut, and says it was a huge success: people loved it and year-end giving was way up as a result. Isn't that wonderful; everybody was a winner with this project! Follow link and scroll down their page to see film...
https://am.jpmorgan.com/private-bank/public/gl/en/tis-the-giving-season