Raise your glass and say goodbye to another summer. My front porch recollection of it was a good one. 2008 gave me better-than-tolerable weather this summer. In fact it gave me perfect weather. And that's the way it will forever be in the portrait of tonight's Toil Girl Deb. In her hammock and turquoise slip, she is hereby declared the empress of the perfect summer sunset and shall remain so for all of eternity.

Deb's portrait was an aesthetic milestone for me. It's the first Toil portrait that takes place during sunset. Deb was very precise and firm with her concept and design and that's the way I like to receive my assignments. I want the portrait to be a visualization of what the client sees in her mind's eye. The only glitch was, I didn't have a clue how to render a beach scape--much less a beautiful female figure--bathed in the orangey purple sky of the setting sun. I was intimidated by the complexity of how the sun interacted with the darkening sky and how it illuminated everything on the Earth's surface. I guess I was always too lazy to give it that good ol' college try, but I knew I had to, for Deb's sake and mine.

I mulled over a ton of photos and slapped out numerous little color drafts and studies. By the end of my little self-imposed art class, I felt a sense of confidence that I could conquer the task of placing the lovely Deb in front of a setting sun. In the end it really didn't turn out to be that much of a toil for me. I guess I really need to stop talking myself out of things. But Deb's push was exactly what I needed.

Now, back to that adorable creature in this month's spotlight. The first piece of vital info' on Deb is that she was born and bred in Iowa. I'll let her take it from here.

"When the time came to go away to college, I left for the East Coast and after graduation, ended up staying there for twenty more years. I’m happy to be back in the Midwest now, but part of me still lives on Eastern Standard Time on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts called Nantucket Island.  After spending many summers there, I feel like I can call it home.

This portrait reminds me daily of my love for the island. It’s in my soul and I travel there whenever I can, both in my mind and in person. It’s my happy place. So when thinking about a theme for my Toil Girl portrait, I could not imagine a more appropriate setting. Les not only captured every nuance of what makes me so unbelievably happy on the island, he exceeded my every expectation and made me look (and feel) more beautiful than I ever thought possible.

I’ve been plus-size my entire teen and adult life but I’m just now becoming comfortable in my own skin. I owe most of that to the love of a wonderful man. But I would be remiss if I did not give Mr. Les Toil his due credit. My first glimpse of his work was the Goddess Carrie portrait and it spoke volumes to me. She was big and beautiful and so obviously adored. I know that BBW is a term that is often used in today’s electronic age, but saying you are a BBW and believing you are a beautiful woman are two completely different things.

Many, many thanks to Les for helping me embrace me…just the way I am".

Deb, those are some mighty, mighty fine words. Empowering and beautiful words for sure. A successful piece of art or photography will conjure up dear memories of the time and place it was executed or depicted. If this portrait brings you fine memories of Nantucket Island, then the portrait was a success. I'm humbled by your praises and pleased by the portrait's effect on you.

Thanks for the warm and wonderful theme Deb, and thanks even more for lighting a fire under my butt and getting me over that artistic hurdle.