[Thomas Nash]

Gopnik never interviewed me before critiquing my painting of the Speaker of the House.

If he had he wouldn't have made his silly claim that it "looks like it was done from a photograph". There's nothing wrong with using photos, but this was one painting where I used more artists license than usual. Newt actually posed in my studio in Georgia because the sun would not hit his face the way I wanted when he stood with his back to the Mall. The sun would have had to shine through the solid building to hit like it does in my painting. Apparently this critic was completely fooled by my ability to make this scene up.

Newt sat while I did color studies of the general light effect.

I will try to post some pictures. The first will show me with my pochade box. You can also see a small oil color study I did of the Mall. It's laying on the table.
I will add more eventually.