So, every summer we lived in Provincetown with my grandmother and mom while dad flew back and forth from Washington DC. When I was three years old I had my portrait done in pastels by a man on the sidewalk named Frank Milby. I remember having to sit for a long, long time.
Provincetown is on the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts and as far as I am concerned it is the BEST place on earth. It is full of art galleries and quaint little stores and numerous wonderful restaurants. And artists. And more artists. Grammy lived there. I loved summers. It is home to me.
More information on Ptown http://www.ptownchamber.com/
Anyway, back to Milby. This is a photo I took of the portrait he did of me. There's a glare in the picture from the glass on top but you get the idea. It is hanging in my bedroom and has been for over 40 years. It is quite large. My sister had one done also when she was three. Hers was done in charcoal. I always wondered about him. I had been staring at his name for what seemed like forever. I wondered what happened to him. Where did he go? What else did he do? Is he still alive?
So this month we saw that Milby was having an exibition at a local art gallery of various paintings he had done over the years. My sister and I were delighted and curious to see what his other creations looked like. I read that his portraits were 'soulful'. So over we went.
It was interesting to see the variety of his works. Lots of landscapes, trees and boats. There was only one portrait and that was of himself which was fascinating. I looked into those eyes and tried to remember looking at him 46 years ago while he drew but I just couldn't bring up the memory.
