Portrait by Gale Fulton Ross

A photo of vintage-to-modern black dolls with their human

In September of 2018, I read Facebook friend, Gale Fulton Ross's post about her watercolor portrait series which will be part of her planned Friends and Family Exhibition.  The exhibition will travel to museums, colleges, and universities.

Ms. Ross's goal is to paint 300 watercolor portraits of Facebook Friends and family based on Facebook profile photos or from other photos submitted by subjects.   In one of her Facebook posts regarding this portrait series, she wrote:

...The plan is to have the watercolor portraits travel collectively to small museums as well as college and University galleries around the country for debate and discussion of the curatorial topic "PATRON AS ART AND AUDIENCE." There is a small Patron’s Portrait Fee for the original art work which when completed is a watercolor portrait about 13 “x l8” matted and shipped to you at no additional costs. The portrait is posted on my FB page and Instagram with your permission once you approve and accept the final image. I make a copy of your portrait for the exhibition. No portrait in the exhibit is for sale. We are looking for dates to open in Spring, 2018. Here is where I need your HELP! I NEED PATRON PARTICIPANTS SO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED AND WANT MORE INFO PLEASE INBOX ME IN FB MESSENGER. This offer is exclusive to my FB Friends only. I’m working hard to complete the project and realize I won’t be successful without your participation. The portraits are not expensive. The purpose is to make it possible for YOU, the working class, to become a patron and owner of an original watercolor at a price that barely cover’s supplies, matting and shipping, yet celebrates your life and significance in the culture of the 21st Century.

The traveling exhibition piqued my interest so I wrote to inquire how I could participate.  After receiving additional details, I submitted the leading photo in this post to Ms. Ross.  The preliminary watercolor portrait, which I thought was beautiful as it was, is shown below.

Preliminary watercolor portrait by Gale Fulton Ross

The final portrait, after matting and prior to shipping to me, is seen next.  It offers greater detail of the dolls in the background and the colors in my face are fine-tuned.

Final portrait as seen in a photograph taken by Ms. Ross.

The matted portrait arrived swiftly.  It needs framing, but I could not wait to write about this project and share how pleased I am with my first original watercolor portrait.  (My husband has sketched me in the distant past in black and white, but this is my first full-color original portrait.)

I look forward to having this beautiful painting of myself and my favorite inanimate things framed and properly hung.

At the time of publication of this post, Ross has painted 200 of the 300 planned portraits.  If you are interested in having her paint an original watercolor portrait of you, please send her a Facebook Friend request and discuss the possibility with her through Facebook Messenger.  You will not be disappointed.

Other portraits Ms. Ross has painted for this exhibition can be viewed here.  Read more about Gale Fulton Ross and her impressive body of work here.  Visit and browse her website here.  Follow her on Instagram here. 

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There is always something to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
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