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Monthly Archives: March 2010

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So after all the talk about Fairy Mommy, this is one of the things I love to do and a bit about how I do it… 

I mostly do portraits and illustrations of children and because they NEVER sit still, I’m forced to work from photographs even though I prefer working from life. 

I start by looking at the photo and then doing a freehand sketch of the image. I then refine the sketch with a more detailed contour line drawing over top. Often on the edges I scribble song lyrics that I hear while I am drawing. I often fall so in love with this initial constructing sketch that I have a hard time continuing – it feels so beautifully simple and architectural. Shown above…


Then if you have been trained in drawing or painting you know you areIMG_1351  supposed to do a light and general layer of color or shading over the entire image and then work up in entire layers.

I have always been completely unable to do this! Once in awhile I inexplicably succeed in correctly building up my image. Most often I fall in love with and obsess over something such as the red shoe and steer away from wastelands where I feel bored or lost such as the jeans. Sometimes this way of working produces brilliant little treasures in the work and sometimes it results in chaos…  

I don’t do as many planning sketches as my art teachers trained me to. Again sometimes this results in chaos but mostly it frees me to create in the moment, find what is important right then and try to bring it to life.I sketch all the time, not planning though, just while I am out in nature noticing little beauties that I may turn into designs.

David
This time my process produced one of my favorite paintings ever of my red loving, ever dreaming little boy! Below is the photo I took and referenced. I used it for proportions and value but took lots of liberty in expressing what I know about my little man. Working from a photo can be a wonderful tool instead of a prison, when you breath the same life into it as you would if your model was in front of you…

What is uniquely you about your creative process?

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Fairy mommy real
My friends and I were talking about our moms and what they are and are not willing or able to do for us. I innocently described my mom flying out to cook me a freezer full of food when I was pregnant and unable to merely glance at raw meat without gagging. I continued to detail many such tasks, thinking all moms did these things at the drop of a hat. 

Finally my friends desperate to come up with something my mother would NOT do for me, "Well she wouldn't clean your windows would she?"

"Not only would she offer to clean them, she would then put on soft music and the entire time she scrubbed she would say things like – Don't nice sparkling clean windows make you feel wonderful!" I replied with a laugh and a new realization that this was not altogether the norm.

My friends needed to hear no more, they instantly crowned her "THE FAIRY MOMMY" I know they all love and appreciate their moms, but mine does have something a bit magical about her and this is not the last you will hear of her… I plan for her to grace you with a bit of her magical fairyness!

BTW – this pic of The Fairy Mommy was taken 20 years ago, give or take a few, so she looks a bit different now but still very beautiful and yes she still has the wings 🙂


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