You look fabulous

Andy Warhol painted celebrities (and soup cans).

Though it”™s impossible to get a Warhol of yourself (unless you can channel the dead), Roy Weinstein has made it possible for art lovers to have their own Warhol-style piece of custom pop art.

Since 1998, Weinstein, who works and lives in Ridgefield, Conn., has combined his background as a professional photographer and his love of colorful art to create silk-screen pop art, specializing in children and dogs.

“I”™ve always admired Andy Warhol”™s work,” Weinstein said. “I thought he had come up with something clever.”

It all started when he was working as a photographer and a client from a small menswear store asked for something original for display and advertisements.

After that, “the phone wouldn”™t stop ringing” with more orders.

Five years ago, he met Lee Rubin, owner of Wendy Gee, a furniture and home accessories store in Larchmont.

“From a business standpoint, a home furnishings store is a better place to sell them than an art gallery because it”™s part of the decorating,” Weinstein said. “I was surprised to find decorators thought it was a fantastic idea to decorate a kid”™s room.”

Rubin agreed.

“It”™s a new category in my store,” Rubin said. “Customers are much more comfortable purchasing the art here because it”™s offered in a much more comfortable environment.”

Use of silk-screen is nothing new; it goes back to the 17^th century in China and was used in famous Chinese Art.

The art form has since gone mainstream and proved itself durable with constituencies as disparate as high-end gallery habituÃ©s and college dorm dwellers.

Weinstein worked for advertising agencies, designing ads, which gave him exposure to using art and photography.

He starts with a black and white photograph taken using high-contrast film (he still uses film as well as digital). Next, the print is converted to the silk-screen, which makes a negative. “It”™s like a big stencil,” he said.

Then an emulsion is applied, which eats away anything dark that was exposed in the photo. The emulsion is wiped off, which leaves an open area where the features are.

Then he uses paint, which is squeegeed over the canvas; the eyes and lips are hand painted.

“It”™s a combination of silk screen and hand painted technique,” Weinstein said.

And, “There”™s been a lot of interest beyond just private homes,” he said.

Soon after he began painting children, Weinstein started getting calls from businesses, including a pediatrician who wanted to decorate a child-friendly office and an animal hospital.

“Next thing you know, I started getting calls from dog owners and horse owners,” he said.

The average size is 28 inches by 28 inches and is done in four panels, called a quad.

Weinstein still works as a photographer; he does product photography for a cosmetic company in Manhattan and catalogue and faculty portraits for Columbia University.

The art, however, “is taking about 60 percent of my time, which I don”™t mind at all,” he said.

He uses museum-quality paints. Prices range from $750 for a single panel to $2,700 for a 36-inch by 36-inch quad.

It usually takes three to four weeks from the time the picture is taken to finish.

For the most part, he doesn”™t use beige or black tones in his work.

“Color is what I”™m all about,” Weinstein said. “I absolutely love working with colors. It”™s been proven that colors make people happy.”