"Portrait of Jim Riegel"

I've made references to Nutri-System in these pages. Well, I've always been on the bulky side, and never thought much of traditional diets ("I live to eat, not eat to live"). Anyway, I heard good thing about the Nutri-System diet program (you eat prepackaged portions that they sell you), so I signed up for the program. Well, it worked! I lost 80 pounds in about 9 months. (I also lost my gall bladder, but thats another story!) So to commemorate the weight loss, I shaved off my beard that I had for 20 some years. This painting, from a Polaroid Jill took of me in the Printmaking studio of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, shows an artistic interpretation of what I looked like. (See next photo for a slightly more realistic impression.)