That wonderful wahine that's blending in so nicely with the tropical landscape is Julie. She'll be sunning herself on that palm tree for this entire Summer month of August until she moves herself and that bronze tan to our permanent Toil Girl gallery.

 

Our lovely hostess Julie approached me with quite a few concepts and designs in mind. Any client that comes to the table with a breadth of ideas has already made my job easier. I mean, I loooove when people give me full and complete creative control of a project, but since these portraits are intended to be a personalized statement of the client, it's great when the client has at least a glimmer of a vision of what they want--which is what Julie definitely had.

 

So yes, I guess I showed the most enthusiasm for Julie's concept of the vintage vacation postcard. I even considered adding a bit of creasing, fringe and discoloration to the edges of the art to give it that antiquated postcard look, but then I figured we should exploit the vibrant colors of the Hawaiian islands. I also thought it manditory to give it a strong retro design sense and I did so with the exotic flower motif. I think they do a nice job of framing our gorgeous subject of interest Miss Julie.

 

Here's a little insight about the inception of the portrait from Julie herself:

 

There's nothing I love more than a warm sun, a cool tropical breeze and my toes dangling in the waters of the Pacific. I pictured myself on an old-fashioned Hawaiian postcard, with a come hither "Wish you were here" expression. Maybe after seeing this beautiful Les Toil rendering, you'll wish you were here too!

 

As a fellow who often considers his work a vacation, I could totally see myself laying on a golden blanket of warm sand sketching the beauty of the land and whatever bodacious beauty that happens to cross my path.

 

Here's a little info' on this month's bodacious beauty. In Julie's words she's a tough-as-nails lawyer with a soft side. She loves to sing, help out in her community, and feed her friends at "salon" style dinner parties. She also keeps several aquariums, which remind her of the water--her favorite element.

 

And on that note I'll bid you all a fond and friendly aloha and send a smooch to Julie for such an apropos and fetching Toil Girl concept to mark the Summer of 2008.