With the Beat

March 24th will be the 101st birthday of poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, best know for his first collection, A Coney Island of the Mind. He was the co-founder of San Francisco's iconic City Lights Booksellers and Publishers in 1953, and published many of the Beat poets (although he did not consider himself one of them). He was arrested in 1957 for publishing Allen Ginsburg's Howl.

Upon his 100th birthday last year, the City of San Francisco proclaimed his birthday "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day," in the tradition of the celebration of Bloomsday in Dublin for poet James Joyce's Ulysses.

I was recently approached to make a rather grand project for this year's celebration, and although I didn't feel I could take it on, I did agree that I would do various pieces of artwork to take note of the day. Since my mind has been on portraits this past six weeks, the first thing I undertook was a portrait of Ferlinghetti, based on a photograph (photographer unknown) that I found online. I believe it was taken within the past couple of years, so I hope it is still a fairly accurate depiction. He looks to be an amiable fellow! #Ferlinghetti101

"Lawrence Ferlinghetti"
Pencil and watercolor
9x9 inches, Bee sketchbook