Mimi Torchia Boothby

The man on the street

My favorite thing to paint is the human face. I spend a lot of time painting landscapes and flowers, but I always come back to portraits. Wherever I go, I see people and wish I could stop right there and take their picture, or pull out a drawing pad; “Don’t move!” and then sketch out…

July 5, 2011

Purple Mountains Majesty – Serendipity

Happy Fourth of July! Imagine you are on a bicycle riding up to the top of a mountain pass. Imagine that your bike is a tandem, a bicycle built for two. The person riding on the front of the bike is your true love, he’s working VERY hard. It’s not easy pedaling up to the…

July 4, 2011

The Peacock’s Lair

Most of what I paint is based solidly in reality. Something I saw, someone I know; but yesterday I was doing an exercise that two different painters have suggested; to just doodle with colors on paper, try to keep it formless but pleasing to the eye. So I did that, and this peacock popped out.…

June 21, 2011

Take a gander at this!

I work at Boeing, a large factory which turned the Duwamish River corridor into a very industrial environment. There is an exception, one of the last buildings to be constructed also included a park-like area. It is very popular with both the employees and wildlife. I felt like I had entered into a magical glade…

June 19, 2011

Poppies in the setting sun

The last half hour of sunlight is incredibly magical to me. The whole world looks different as the rays are refracted through the atmosphere and the angles cause deep shadows which set off the sunny spots. In my garden, we have these little orange poppies. I was told they were from Yugoslavia and if you’re…

June 17, 2011