The Willing Suspension of Disbelief
Long ago, when our daughters were very young, I had my first solo art show at our local gallery. I had a summer to prepare. At the time, I was also a full time art teacher. That left me two months to create a body of original art while also trying to keep our kids alive and safe. Besides becoming more or less feral, each daughters did take the time to paint their self portrait for me. They mixed their own colours and chose their look. Allow me to introduce them to you:
L - R:
Kestrel, age 4, chose the colour green for her face because she was immensely pleased at having created a new colour out of two other colours. She has a large smile because she is happy. Rainbow was her favourite colour at the time so it made sense to use it for her hair. Turns out that green was also her favourite dress colour because it was like moss and she liked moss a lot. Note that her feet are dancing like a ballerina.
Carley, age 9, loved fashion and makeup, even though she wasn't allowed to wear it yet. In her self portrait she is lavishly made up with blue eye shadow, generous amounts of lipstick, and blond hair (she is a brunette) as any good artist who uses her imagination would do. She had hoped for high heels but I gave her booties - something that distressed her greatly at the time. She still prefers high heels over booties to this very day.
Mollie, age 6 loved yellow and butterflies. She worked hard on creating skin colour, first on the palette, than on her arm to compare, back and forth until she was pleased with the results. She was notorious for refusing footwear, summer or winter, so this painting is true enough. Notice the large, flamboyant, bright green bow around her neck. It took some time to get it to "fly" as she swung in her swing.
L - R:
Kestrel, age 4, chose the colour green for her face because she was immensely pleased at having created a new colour out of two other colours. She has a large smile because she is happy. Rainbow was her favourite colour at the time so it made sense to use it for her hair. Turns out that green was also her favourite dress colour because it was like moss and she liked moss a lot. Note that her feet are dancing like a ballerina.
Carley, age 9, loved fashion and makeup, even though she wasn't allowed to wear it yet. In her self portrait she is lavishly made up with blue eye shadow, generous amounts of lipstick, and blond hair (she is a brunette) as any good artist who uses her imagination would do. She had hoped for high heels but I gave her booties - something that distressed her greatly at the time. She still prefers high heels over booties to this very day.
Mollie, age 6 loved yellow and butterflies. She worked hard on creating skin colour, first on the palette, than on her arm to compare, back and forth until she was pleased with the results. She was notorious for refusing footwear, summer or winter, so this painting is true enough. Notice the large, flamboyant, bright green bow around her neck. It took some time to get it to "fly" as she swung in her swing.
They have grown up! Here they are today. The similarities are, well, kind of there.
