acrylic on canvas paper mounted on board, 12" x 12"
This portrait of Nat King Cole is the second in a series I'm doing of Black American singers and musicians, and I've decided to expand the category to include Black artists of all stripes. This one was painted with a very limited palette of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, ivory black, and white. The portrait of Billie Holiday was also done with a limited palette, the same as this with the addition of Indian yellow.
Nat King Cole is one of my all-time favorite singers, and his version of "Nature Boy" is, quite frankly, one for a time capsule; it is the definitive rendition of one of the most poignantly beautiful songs ever written, and NKC's voice lifts it to the heavens.
