Unveiling After-Thoughts

Above, Asya addresses the guests. She spoke quite well. Photo by Lori Thornhill.

The portrait unveiling party is over and the painting is now hung in its place at home.

Those who attended (thank you for coming) had a good time. It is the first time I have thrown a party at such a venue (Odyssey Restaurant) that was non-political and no admission charges were necessary. It was just to have a get-together for fun, food and drinks.

I received this note from Asya last evening after I posted the blog about the party:

Wow, you do work fast! :)
That's a nice review with a nice set of pictures)))
You look great and probably the tie choice was the right one too :D

My people told me that your face looks very alive, they liked that you look young, that you stand out from the background, the makeup girl loved the colors mix and how the sky looks like, and said that the canvas translates light and very positive emotions, and generally they enjoyed being there, and said the place was great (How did you find this place? ) I said that was you who found it, and they said it was great job and excellent for the start:)

And it wouldn't have happened if not you!!

Since Asya is leaving in a few days for St. Petersburg, Russia (her hometown) for about a month, it is nice to know that she is leaving with very happy feelings.

Following the party and after I posted photos from it, I received a lot of compliments about the portrait, all of which was made possible by Asya's artistic talents. As I said before, I told her when we began the project, have fun with it and to approach it in however way she felt comfortable with. She decided to go at it in a French impressionistic style with no pressures from me.

Some of the comments I received:

It's a fine piece of work, Armand! 

A wonderful painting! 

If this is a Dorian Gray thing, it's not working. Pretty cool painting, though. 

Awesome! 

Looks great!!! 

OMG ... it's already showing age and you are looking younger.

Before the unveiling, Asya and I discussed how we're going to do it. I told her that I would begin with how we met and how we got the painting project started. Then, I said, she would take it from there and discuss how she approached it. She froze for a second, saying that she didn't expect to make a speech.

Above, the portrait made it back to its wall, safe and sound.

But when we began the unveiling and after I said my part of it, she did take it from there and spoke very well and it was warmly received by the guests. This was all the more remarkable since English is not her first language.

One bit of "new business" was taken care of at the party. Glenn Thornhill and I discussed our plans for next weekend's clamp-out at Lake Cachuma that we're attending.

All in all, it was a fun day and it was great to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while.