Drawings + Sketches

Portrait of Barack Obama

This is my first portrait of president-elect Barack Obama. (Drawing after jump.) I created this about two weeks ago, as the post-election hysteria faded and the reality of the daunting tasks that lie ahead of our new president occupied the pundit class.

Obama is a talented and capable man. But, he confronts enormous challenges that are the result of a decades’ long national effort to place selfishness and greed above service and sacrifice. He is going to need to rein in his own party’s worst instincts, deal with a ravaged, yet seething Republican opposition, and an electorate that is reluctantly dealing with the sad consequences of an extended stretch of reckless behavior.

I wanted to show him as a guy that is willingly heading toward the roughest four years of his life. I was motivated, in part, by the nausea induced by constantly seeing his mug on t-shirts, pins and now, poorly made china and cheesy collectible coins. I hope you enjoy the drawing. I plan to make many more over the course of his stay at the White House.

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© 2008 Splendid Marbles.