I love old photographs. I came across one of President Taft, our fattest president, and it inspired me. I imagined the stereotype of the Victorian father--the authoritarian blowhard. Kind of a leitmotif for our age, no? And I decided to realize the metaphor of "crabby" with this figure. I had great fun doing this painting and have many more darkly humorous "portraits" in mind. I hope you enjoy them. It is not usual for me to laugh while I'm painting, but I did with this one. And as my favorite philosopher (M.M. Bakhtin) would say, "Laughter is the true seriousness that destroys all false seriousness." 

The original watercolor painting is 11 x 15"/28 x 38cm on heavy cotton watercolor paper and is ready to frame.