Malissa again

The only thing you may recognize is that determined look again. This is based on an old photo that I don't recall who I got it from as an emailed jpg. I was afraid I'd lose this image of a 6 or 7 year old Malissa warming up behind stage before the yearly performance with her old group Motuaina here in Bay Area, so I decided to paint it.

I loved being a part of the group for the 5 years we were there. Now she has decided she would rather concentrate on competitive soccer. I miss the family atmosphere, the dance, the culture and the costumes. It was great while it lasted.

9x12 oil on board

Malissa

My Malissa. So different from Donovan but similar in important areas.

Here she is sitting waiting for her brother to have his soccer team photo taken. He asked her to be in his "buddy" photo. She plays for a competitive team in another city while Donovan is content to play recreational soccer in ours. So she sits a bright orange blossom in a sea of navy uniforms.

This is her usual expression. Intense, a little suspicious and cautious. Around friends she is the goof-ball and ham but deep inside I know she is always thinking. Donovan and Malissa have a close sibling relationship which I treasure because I didn't have one growing up with my younger brothers. Perhaps it was because of the tumultuous home life we lived. We're a little closer now but I love seeing these two take care of each other when they are not annoying the heck out of one another.

24x24 oil on canvas

Just a little something

I go in my kids' bathroom and find a couple of sheets of toilet paper folded up on the cover of the trash can next to the toilet.

I look at this and realized when Malissa was  in here for her daily "constitution" she had brought her text book with her.  She later explained she found a sample problem and wanted to see if she could figure it out.

I wasn't like this when I was 11.  Were you?

Do you remember this?

I posted this a while back as an experiment and wasn't quite sure what to do.  

 

So after my trip around 7 states in 6 days, it inspired me to do this based loosely on a camera phone image.  What do you think?

Drawing for the Hoover Dam paintnig will be done after Malissa comes home from school.

12x24 oil on canvas

Bunny for Malissa

Okay, so this is non-forensic and really not really fine art related but I wanted to show you why I haven't been painting/drawing the past day and a half.  

I know seasoned sewers could have whipped this out in an hour but it's been a while trying to sew something where I had to print out a pattern downloaded from the web.  

Malissa picked out the fabric and now I'm going to wait outside her school to deliver it to her before she walks to dad's.   She told me she wanted it 'right away.'

DSFDF Challenge

So I was showing my 11 year old daughter the Different Strokes from Different Folks blog.

She told me she wanted to participate.

I think her multimedia 10x8 painting turned out so much more interesting than my 6x8 oil on canvas board.... *sigh*  [okay I'm just a tad proud too. ;o)]

Tiny commission

My 11 year old saw that I received a couple of samples when I ordered ArtBoard for the first time.  ArtBoard gave me four 2"x3" boards with different finishes [gesso, oil primed linen, Arches Hot Press and Acrylic primed cotton]

She took one of the samples and asked if I would paint something for her.  She didn't know the name of the flower but after describing it and looking for it on Google images, we confirmed it was a calla lily.  She was very explicit about describing the color background, the certain lily image she wanted the bloom in and how she wanted the stem to gently bend to the right.  I suggested one composition and she shook her head vigorously  "no".  This young lady knows exactly what she wanted.  

I painted this lily and when I asked if this is what she wanted.  She studied the painting for a few moments and then asked, "why is this purple?"  pointing at the shadow at the top of the bloom.  I explained I wanted to show the shadow and thought the dark purple would be good for this.  She thought about it and then indicated she was satisfied with the painting.  I'm grateful this young lady knows exactly what she wants and is determined not to settle for anything less. I'm also grateful this painting was not any bigger than a couple of inches.  I just pity the boyfriends she'll be involved with in the [hopefully far] future.

oil on 2x3 inch oil primed linen on ArtBoard