Attention must be paid

I think it was Willie Lohman's wife who said, to her annoying sons, "Attention must be paid." Or something like that.

And I am here to tell you that attention must be paid to my key associate Rachel Gardner of the Brooklyn Artists Gym. For it was she who stretched the canvases and sketched the likeness of Sarah Palin on the multi-paneled work titled "Pieces of Sarah." Me? I just came in and threw the paint down. I'm like Chuck Berry--I roll into town, grab me a band, smoke some reefer, play my guitar like ringing a bell, collect my check and move on to the next town.

Chuck Berry may not be the best example. I'm perhaps more like Titian (although Carravaggio is my main boy) than Chuck Berry.

All that said, it should be noted that Willie Lohman was a schlub. Rachel, on the other hand, is an artist of vibrant talents; a portraitist whose treatment of Palin's face has given me a good deal of insight into my own substandard efforts in the exact same department.

So attention must be paid. This is she in the middle. I am on the right. Sarah is on the left. My head, with its new, post-Today Show haircut, looks like a bowling ball.