The National Portrait Gallery

I do not like this logo. I think it's boring and kind of strange. For some reason it reminds me of the title page of an 80s paperback, something rendered in turquoise and neon orange. As such, it seems outdated in a strange way. Though the gallery contains portraits from throughout the ages, I think the logo has to be somehow timeless. I have no idea as to how to go about that, but I think something simple and less "fad" like would be better. Maybe the logo could somehow be "framed" either literally or just figuratively, like the pieces in the collection The script that makes up the logo now seems out of style and just strange.

This is me as Catherine Parr, after "Master John's" 1545 portrait:

I've always liked Catherine Parr the best out of all old King Henry VIII's wives, probably because she's the one who lived. She seems like a smart, intelligent woman who used her intellect to literally keep her head. I admire her for the story of how Henry was all set to capture and probably execute her, but she was able to talk him out of it by reminding him of her subservient status. The fact that she was smart enough to play on his chauvanism I think tells a lot about her ability to think quickly and survive in a very nasty world. I've always felt bad about her end after Henry, though. She fell in love with a less than reliable man and died in childbirth. I take this as a well-delivered warning. In another time and place, that could be me. Thank goodness I wasn't born in 16th century England.

This is Jamie as Elizabeth of Bohemia by an unknown artist around the time of her marriage in 1613:

I just really liked the look in the eyes of the sitter of this portrait. It seemed like she was conveying intelligence, kindness, a fun-loving spirit, and just a hint of boredom, which is just the way Jamie would look if I told her she had to sit still for who knows how long to do a painting of her. The two of us were admiring the lack collar in the painting. Jamie says she'd love to have one like that, and I must say, it would look lovely on her. The collar had lions and unicorns and coats of arms worked into it. Just Jamie's style!

Leigh as Princess Charlotte of Wales by George Dawe, 1817:

This portrait was perfect for Leigh. Just a few days before, we had all been laughing that all the women around the Burberry Fashion Week tent were wearing their hair in a tight bun on the very tops of their heads and looked rather silly. Leigh had promptly given herself the same hairstyle and worn it for the rest of the day. When I saw this painting, I immediately noticed the hairstyle and thought of my stylish friend. Unfortunately, the hairstyle is where the similarities between Leigh and Princess Charlotte end. Actually, it's really not so unfortunate. Princess Charlotte was 21 years old in this picture, newly married and in love and exceedingly happy, but just a few months later she died delivering a stillborn child. I had to adjust the angle of the sitter's face because my poor sketching skills just could not capture the correct pose.

Lauryn as

The pose of this woman could not be more different than Lauryn's usual posture, but I couldn't help noticing the almost frightening similarity of their faces. The expressions are entirely different, with ____'s being sultry and seductive, and Lauryn's generally being kind and honest, but the features and coloring were spot-on. At first I wasn't going to include this juxtaposition and was going to try to find another portrait to draw, but I thought the contrast between physical resemblance and personality to be rather comedic.

Professor Steven Driscoll Hixson as Henry VIII in a sketch by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1537:



I was having trouble choosing a final comparison so I decided I'd like to portray Professor Hixson as a very unlikely Henry VIII. This is not a comparison of likeness but of absolute dissimilarity. I don't like Henry VIII. He just was not a nice guy. By all accounts he was just about the most self-centered, generally nasty person who ever lived. When we visited Windsor, I made sure to walk on his tombstone. In contrast, Professor Hixson is friendly and helpful. The physical differences are also pretty huge (pun sort of accidentally intended). Old Henry was clearly rather rotund, while our professor is certainly a whole lot leaner. The one similarity I can possibly draw is the importance of clothing to the two men. Both seem to value clothing, though for what I assume are rather different reasons. Where Henry used rich cloth to show off his power and wealth, Professor Hixson has revealed that he chooses his own clothing to reflect mood through pattern and color. In some ways, this selection of clothing is done for similar reasons: both men use their clothes to convey a message, but that message is very different. Where Henry's rich embroideries and jewellry and massive (and unlikely) codpiece seem to declare the wearer to be immensely wealthy, powerful and self-confident (and very aware of his own standing), Professor Hixson's happy patterns and colors clothe a cheerful and kind-hearted teacher .