A Special Day

Tomorrow is my beautiful grandson's 8th birthday and sadly I will not be there to share it with him.  And his wonderful mother has her birthday the following day with my one and only granddaughter (whom I have never seen in person) celebrating her first birthday the next week.

Now, as is the case with all first born children, there are hundreds of thousands of photographs of Andreas, so I have plenty to choose from to paint.

But I am ultra lucky if I get one or two of Catherine!  Maybe they'll take the hint and send me a whole bunch of the little lady so I can get to paint more than the one I already have.

This was done from a photograph taken when they were last in SA almost 2 years ago, but I liked it, so I painted it, and it is one I'm going to keep!

 

Andreas - Just Listening

Eye to Eye 18" x 24"

Another painting of my grandson, this time at Spier in Stellenbosch. I know the purists don't like to paint from photographs, but the unposed nature of the picture appealed to me. And besides, to get a child of 6 years old to stand still for 20 seconds would be a major feat!

My Views - Selection Day

Thank you to both Carol Hadfield (The Art of It) and Di McNaughton (The Art of Intuitive Painting) for their insights into the vagaries of the Selection Day. I must admit I was a little taken aback by the selection - some magnificent paintings were given very low scores and therefore did not make the 'cut'. Although I was lucky enough to have one painting chosen, I thought that I needed to give up art as I simply wasn't good enough. But then (thank you Di), I paint for me and how I feel and not for judges who, because they are human after all, must judge what they see from their subjective point of view. This is the one they chose. It's called 'Penguin Spotting'

The Aquarium 18"x24"

My grandson has become a model for me. When the family was here in Cape Town in December, they went all over the place, and the reference for this painting was taken in the aquarium at the Waterfront.

For my Son 18"x24"

It's my son, Howard's, birthday tomorrow and this is the 'gift' I will be taking to the family when I make my way over to Sweden in February next year. I really enjoyed painting my grandson and thanks to Margie Johnson for her guidance.