A while back, my daughter-in-law (wife of son #5) showed me an old photo of the firstborn of her two little girls with one of the cats they used to have (and had to give away to family members out in the Midwest, due to allergies--but that's a story for another day). It was so adorable: the two were sitting side-by-side on the floor, a toddler in footie PJ's with her pet kitty-cat, gazing at the world outside the front storm door. I told my D-I-L that I thought it looked like it should be a painting, and that I wished I had the talent to do it justice.
When her early-April birthday was approaching, I actually entertained the idea of doing that for her as a gift. I thought I could make either a painting or a colored pencil drawing inspired by that endearing photo. I started working on a rough sketch; but a bit intimidated by how difficult the project seemed (I mean, the photo was tad dark, and there were objects blocking a perfect view of the two sweet creatures I would want to highlight), I ultimately put it aside. We never did get a gift in the mail on time for my D-I-L's actual birthday. Then when I asked her during a FaceTime birthday call if she had any special wishes, she mentioned that she would like me to try to do what we had talked about. If I was up to it, of course.
I don't like to say no to my kids if at all possible. And this was going to be a very belated gift, but... I got right to work after that call, excited to pour all my love and energy into this gift. The first thing I wanted to tackle was the star of the scene, my sweet golden-haired granddaughter, and here's what the piece looked like on April 9, which was day one. (Excuse the poor lighting/quality of the photos I’m about to share.)
When it comes to drawing or painting, my very favorite subjects are living, breathing creatures: people and animals (especially cute furry ones). I'm not very interested in--or good at--landscapes or buildings or vehicles. However, some of those not-so-fun-for-me inanimate objects were part of the scene these two were looking at in the photo I was using as inspiration. So I added them. But honestly, I would have loved to just stop after my granddaughter and her cat were finished. Maybe have a blurry garden or woodsy scene showing through the glass door. But I sketched in the details (poorly) and forged ahead.
As I told son #4, who is a gifted artist, my go-to style seems to be "children's book illustration." My work is not at all realistic, and when I do colored pencil drawings, I always default to using a fine-tipped black Sharpie to outline everything. (Self-trained artist, here. Obviously!) I was going to try something different with this piece of artwork, but I'm an old dog and you know what they say about new tricks and whatnot.
I worked on this project diligently for close to two weeks, in fits and starts. Here's how things were progressing on April 18.
As you can see, my humble little labor of love barely resembles the photo that inspired it. I call "artistic license!" Yes, that's it, that's the ticket! And thank goodness I can erase colored pencil marks, because I had to do lots and lots of tweaking and fixing. Also, I decided to add a little bird to the scene. No doubt these two would both be fascinated by that. By April 21, I decided the picture was finished.
I sent a photo of the drawing via text to son #4 to see what he thought. He has this very cool art program for his tablet, with which he creates truly professional works that blow us all away. He said that if I wanted, he could add streaks of light on the glass of that front door, or blur the scene showing through it so that the two figures in the foreground are the main focus. I was excited about the idea of collaborating with him. This will be the first time we've ever done anything like this!
No comments:
Post a Comment