Dont Monkey With My Heart!

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Robin's Egg Blue and Pink, Portrait of Penélope Cruz in platinum wig, from Pedro Almodóvar's film "Broken Embraces"

Algonquin Portrait: Please Read:

Since the 1930s,the staff of the Algonquin Hotel have lovingly been the guardians to a series of resident cats. The history of the Algonquin cat is as famous as the hotel itself. Over the years there have been a number of wonderful felines. Each cat is unique, of course, but all have lived in the lobby (and have mingled with fabulous hotel guests.) The current Algonquin kitty, is named Matilda, and my current portrait of Ms. M  is hanging in the Algonquin's lobby.

I have donated this painting to be part of a silent auction which will take place at the hotel, in August. All money from the auction will go to benefit the North Shore Animal League America, which is a no-kill animal shelter in Port Washington, New York

Here is a preview of the painting and how you would bid.
Please stop by the Algonquin Hotel, at

59 West 44th Street!!

                                                                  This is really for a great cause! Thanks so much,

Jenny B

Groovy Fantasy Hollywood Get-Away

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I will paint an original and entirely unique portrait of your pet!

My schedule has freed up a little bit, which has allowed me some time to make my painting-studio clutter-free, super-organized and beautiful ...This is a great time for me to start working on new commissions. If you are interested please let me know!


Your cat, dog, alpaca, pot bellied pig, has an original personality! In my work, my biggest concern is to capture what makes your pet outstanding... He/she is a beloved friend to you, and he/she deserves to be immortalized in a portrait that expresses her unique charisma. Please share with me your stories. I love seeing  your photos : )


You can read more about my pet portraits at www.jennybelin.com. If you would like to pay for your painting in installments-I may be able to work something out with you...just contact me, and we can discuss. My email address is jenny.belin@gmail.com.

Spread the word!
Big hugs,
Jenny B

Patti

I've been so immersed in my Patti Smith book this week, and last night, Just Kids  crept into my dreams...Patti,  Robert Mapplethorpe and I were drinking beers- hanging out at the Chelsea Hotel (which looked a bit like the Brooklyn Collective) Exhibited in the lobby were Mapplethorpe's most recent photos..of Anthony Weiner's weiner! (Robert wanted to make something beautiful of this whole stupid sext-ing thing). Patti wore a hand made t-shirt dress with a funny Weiner NY Daily News headline printed across her chest. I wore a t-shirt dress too... with a silkscreen of Patti! I dont remember much more. Everyone was pretty weird. Drunk? Really 1970s and quipping like Andy Warhol. But it was a fun occasion, and a dream I'd like to continue again tonight if possible! <3

vamps

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Feeling Nostalgic today, and remembering my teenage role models...The big broad dames of classic Hollywood, who are still so inspiring to me.

Pinks

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I've gone through distinct stages of both loving and rejecting you. When really young, I seemed to eat you up, but as a teen, I was just too cool. Now, again, I am wildly attracted. Plush, petal and flirty. Fun for inspiration and distraction.

Patti Smith

www.etsy.com/treasury/NjMyNjQ4OHwzMzc2NzI1NzU/just-kids?ref=pr_treasury

Inspired by Patti Smith's Book-a memoir of her young relationships with New York and with the vibrant creative souls who lived there in the 1970s.
Here are items and images that remind me of her story.

Pink Farm Baby

Inspired by my last pedicure (Hot Pink)

Journal notes from: Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L'amour fou

1. Friday afternoon, I walk into the Picasso exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery on 21 street, I'm wearing my white H&M dress with stripes and a cherry necklace. Security Guard tells me not to swing my leather handbag. "Hold it down. Keep it down..." Tall, wild haired French man (looks like an architect in mustard spectacles) smirks at me as we stand next to each other in the first room. He has a leather handbag too.

2. Photographs of Picasso's lover/muse- Look carefully at Marie-Thérèse Walter. Look again. She seems happy in some photographs, especially when she is 17. Also she looks tough. Harsh. Stern. Swiss? She is not glamorous and graceful enough for Picasso...is she? She looks down to earth though...this is a good quality in a muse.

Actually...I think I may know her. Not really. She could look like someone who I've obsessed about though. Marie Therese looks like an ex-boyfriend's ex girlfriend. I think.

3. Am I talking to myself or am I talking to the painter? If I ever could own one of these paintings of Marie Therese, I'd never be able to leave my apartment. I'd stare all day, and let the painting confuse me, frustrate me and drive me koo-koo. All in the best ways possible.

3.5. Picasso? Good teacher. Good lover? I wouldn't want to be his muse...could he be mine?

4. "Marie-Thérèse Accoudee" Concentrate on tiny details of this stunning portrait while being careful not to swing handbag. Concentrate on fingernails and eyelashes. How clever these little details are. Line and drawing in the painting. Emphasized by color choices. Take note.

5. Stand back (Ignore didactic twerp wearing shorts who is trying to impress his old lady girlfriend/mother?) Nothing is effected or snarky or smarty pants here. There is Dimension/ Composition/ Figure and Background all work together with the colors....

"Picasso, lets discuss your under-painting? Which colors came first? How did you make that green? What is behind it all anyway? Alizarin Crimson?"

6. The painting that I've been staring at and talking to for the past ten minutes has completely changed in composition. Now I see Marie-Thérèse is sitting in a different space than I had seen before. And what difference does it make? The painting is probably more about emotions and psychology than about small details and color choices.

7. Move on. Stay at Gagosian until guards kick me out. Go back to Marie-Thérèse in the first room...one more time before i leave. She is beautiful. And in a way that i don't want to forget.

8. Leave Chelsea and talk passionately about Picasso for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Get cheap manicure on 8th street...try to match the nail polish of Marie-Thérèse. Drink wine at outdoor cafe on 6th avenue. Eat French fries. Look at people passing by. Love New York but wish I could be back in Paris.

Last night in Paris...red Birthday kiss