This painting experience was an honor for me. An honor because I was able to get to know an amazing family who live their faith so beautifully and share God's love so openly. "H" was adopted into this family when she was a kindergartner. I highly recommend you read her mom's blog because you will be inspired and touched by "H's" story and how she met her mom and dad and brothers. It made me cry! But it is not my story to tell....it is theirs. Here's the link:
http://mancubsandaprincess-becca.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!
Mom and I spent some time determining goals for the painting "H" would do. Mom knew she wanted the picture to feel warm, and have a strong tree, representing the family unit. She also wanted unique foliage, demonstrating that while family has one strong foundation, each person is unique and beautiful in their own right. And together, well, this painting is extraordinary!
Prior to our first session, I was told "H" was detailed, and precise. The concept couldn't have been better for her. It would take time and attention to detail, and "H" was incredible. Only in 2nd grade, this little girl could paint for hours! Really! And still want to paint more! She continually impressed me with her talent. Our sessions were so peaceful and relaxed as we chose out colors, and styles of flowers together. She had a wonderful sense of color and was truly a collaborator in decisions regarding the foliage.
To start out, I had the tree sketched in and the ground sketched as well. Our first session was a good "get to know you" and also allowed me to see how she painted.
This is where we ended after our first time meeting:
Next we added interest with more colors. I showed her some different ways to make the middle of flowers and then she chose however she wanted to fill them in. One has a smiley face! CUTE!
For the red and purple flowers, she did the middles and I painted the petal lines. She then thickened each petal. You can see her adding the depth in this picture.
Today was flower day. This would be the most time consuming part of the painting but well worth it. And flowers are SO MUCH FUN! We just slowly added color and kept building off of it. There were X's to mark where we would put each one. I love how comfortable she looks in this picture as she paints. So sweet!
Okay- look at her here! LOVE THIS PICTURE of her!
By the time we began working on the flowers, "H" was starting to get to know me better and I her. She is incredibly sweet and creative, with a natural knack for knowing what colors would look good with what. She was so conscientious while she painted, always careful and precise, which made a perfect match for this artist and a painting full of intricacies. The joy and curse of this project was that both H and I love painting, and kept wanting to add more and more detail to this project. Oh- how about this color? This design? and on and on we both went, until we hit a wall and had to stop our madness! Ha! We would paint a flower, work on another, come back and add more detail to one, like it, and add more detail to another, and on and on. So did it take time? Absolutely! Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!
Adding more detailing.....
I love her smiling while she paints!
Here you can see how I would add lines to show her where to fill in petals.
She looks so happy and proud...as she should be!
We were coming to an end....which was kind of bittersweet. I loved our relaxed afternoons, full of creative fun! We added on eight more flowers in our last session, and built up some others, adding more color and detail.
We had talked about what type of flowers to add, and "H" mentioned the crown shaped ones. Perfect addition for the fields. Love your crown flowers sweetie!
Adding on one layer.... and then....
Truly a labor of love "H"! I'm so incredibly impressed by your ability, and my heart is warmed by your sweetness! We finished the day after mom's birthday. Perfect gift! Enjoy it! And thanks mom for sharing your story with me and also the opportunity to work with your gifted daughter!
