Today's painting is inspired by a 1994 summer photo at downtown Clark, Chicago during a visit by my uncle & aunt from San Diego. As the designated tour guide photographer, I took souvenir photos of my relatives at the Navy Pier, Sears Tower and other tourist spots. When we saw the cops & the horses at rest at Clark street, Tio and Tia quickly posed in front of them for a quick shot. That is also the moment when the unseen handler of the daycare tram with 6 toddlers on board, decided to pass in front of the oldies. And blessings!, in one frozen moment, I had a Tapestry of Fifteen personalities: big & small, young & old, law , & order, wisdom & innocence! I am grateful to witness a diverse assembly of the universe, all 3 groups, totally unmindful of each other & co-existing in peace. First time, I painted horses! The most difficult is painting the young ones! I painted a dragon fly on the tram as a reminder of my own childhood of no daycare & no tram. My own
nanny was my neighborhood of insects, rocks & stones, flowers & tadpoles! My uncle, all 6 feet of him, a charming guy of 93 years, now a widow, still lives with my extended family in San Diego!
It was difficult to start the kids section since I had no connection with any of the young ones in the reference photo personally or thru social media. The pandemic reality
ReplyDeleterestricted our interconnections among my relatives. I used my files of holiday photos and Instagram postings for personal touches & gestures & how a toddler would dress for the day. I painted the boys in front with Bulls & Cubs shirts. The girls in the middle are in frilly soft dresses.The boy at the back seat in a striped shirt with coordinated blue pants is inspired by a grandson whose mom, my niece, loves to dress up her family. I even painted WW or wonder woman on the back of the baby with the yellow dress!!The changes to the young section gave me the personal connections and then I rested!
Wow! You're really rocking this portrait thing, aren't you? I love the way you caught the casual positions of the police (including the police horse) and the way your aunt and uncle are so smiling and happy to be visiting here. They feel like real people with distinct personalities. And even with the bright color and scene-stealing kids at lower right, you've balanced the composition nicely.
ReplyDeleteEveryone's a couplet. And yeah, the horse and the standing cop are great in their naturalness. Along with the 3 layers of groups, far distance cops, middle distance of elders, and up front kiddies. I mean there's all kinds of compositional things happening in there. What a masterpiece you've orchestrated, Susan.
ReplyDeleteI love this! Even the horses’ personalities come thru. I really like how you gave every child a different look and personality and I love how they are all looking around at different things, each one taking in a different experience from the same moment. You should write and illustrate a children’s book. I read a lot children’s books these days & I’m just amazed by the beauty and variety of the illustrations in today’s picture books. Great work Susan & I’m impressed by your research too!
ReplyDeleteFifteen? I thought and went back to count them and realized that the horses were included. Good to see cops enjoying themselves on a lazy sunny afternoon rather then standing chests out guarding that awful Trump Tower. Kids that age are so unfazed by stuff. When I was subbing and I got my first K class, i was oh shit how do i deal with them, but they just sauntered in and took their seats and waited for me to hand out out their juice boxes like it was no big deal that their regular teacher was not there. I like their round little heads, they look like those playskool kids that you insert into vehicles.
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