Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Rahsaan Roland Kirk
20" x 9.75"
oil and pastel on canvas, 2011

The lion on his pants may have to move to the background, maybe one on the left and one on the right, but here's the first painting for the Top 100 2011, the first of four Kirks I intend to do over the next week or so. Now I think of it I believe one lion should be painted black and the other white. In the photo I painted from, two lions are embroidered on his shirt but I liked the shirt without lions when the painting progressed. Kind of a Star Trek outfit it turned out, an homage to Captain Kirk maybe?  

Does Your House Have Lions? is title of a Rahsaan disc and also the title of a blog on Kirk by May Cobb "dedicated to the enduring spirit that is Rahsaan Roland Kirk" as she puts it. She's working on Kirk's biography and in search of anecdotes about his life. If you know of any... please visit her site (do it anyway if you—and how can you not—have a warm heart for Rahsaan.)

One of the four Kirk tunes in the list so far is Many Blessings from The Inflated Tear. This painting then will be forever linked to that track. It a sweet title, a beautiful way to get a new series of 100 paintings on its way.