Stop-Action Reaction Jacqueline Kennedy, King of Hearts

With Love From Artist Tina Mion & Me!!!!!

Stephen is proudly showing off his "Best Ever" present to Dillan! She is wearing my new Eric Javits hat!

Back in the summer of 2010 we stayed at the famous La Posada Hotel in Winslow Arizona!


Stephen eyed this painting in the Tina Mion Gallery inside the hotel .......

He wanted us to buy it desperately and I hesitated unfortunately ...

Because for the past year and half he's talked about this painting at least a million times! Literally!

In the spirit of giving I ordered, received and wrapped the lithograph up for his Christmas present!

On the last day of 2011 we dropped it off to be framed and it will be hanging on our living room wall in about two weeks:)

In the 1940s, Harold Edgerton invented stroboscopic photography, which allowed him to create “stop-action” images such as a bullet piercing a card. In 1963, television made it possible for an entire nation to witness the stop-action assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and Jackie’s reaction. In a deck of cards, the King of Hearts is the “suicide king” — so-called because he is nearly always thrusting a sword through his head.

Some called JFK suicidal because he insisted on riding in public without bulletproof protection. I painted two swords for the theory that two bullets were fired from different directions. This painting represents the instant President Kennedy was hit. Jackie doesn’t know what has happened yet, but she knows it’s bad. The painting is meant to capture the last moment of innocence for Jackie — and for an entire generation.

Where were you when you heard about the President's assassination? I was nine years old at Inez Elementary School in Albuquerque New Mexico.

This is one of the coolest hotels if you are ever traveling through Winslow Arizona!