Copycats

War Helicopter, oil pastel by my son, 4 years old...I love my kids. They crack my husband and I up with their schemes, and they love to copy us. One day it might be our little boy walking in with his chin tucked back, his chest puffed out, holding a pretend cup of coffee, saying in a deep voice "Hmph, I'm Dad. I'm going to work now." Or our daughter popping out of her room ("Ta da!") dressed exactly like me in jeans, blue T-shirt, bandana head band and flip flops, proclaiming herself "Mini Mom." Its funny and scary at the same time, watching these little copycats. Some of the things we do, I hope they don't copy: like when I have a meltdown after a long day, or when we get too busy to enjoy what is happening around us. Good and bad, children will absorb the way their parents live, interact and behave. They watch us, even when we don't know it. By watching me create art, my kids have learned to draw from life and from pictures. My son likes to use our iPhones and google "helicopters" and "garbage trucks" and draw the pictures he likes (I always have to "preview" the pictures first...it is sadly amazing what images will pop up for something so simple!). Above is his "war helicopter," drawn from an image he found on Google. Below is our daughter's rendition of our back porch, with our bird feeders and sleeping dogs.

Back Porch, pencil sketch by my daughter, 6 years old

Hipstamatic Inspiration

Sometimes you find new inspiration in unexpected places. Bored with the same old style of my art, last Fall I found bold new colors and the freedom to enhance what is seen thanks to a text message joke from my sister. As children, we had this joke (which will probably sound lame, but we thought it a hilarious trick). We took lots of road trips back then and whenever we saw a hay bale, we'd say "Hay, (insert name)." If the chosen trick-victim said "what?" the trickster would giggle and giggle and point at the hay bale, exclaiming "I got you!" I told you...a little lame, an inside joke, but it was funny to us. As adults, let's just say it may or may not still happen...

Now bringing my ramblings to a point: on the way back from a family beach trip, my sister texted me the picture below with "Hay (omitting funny childhood nickname) Mary Liz!" She had snapped the photo out of the window with the Hipstamatic App on her iPhone.

Hay Bales, 12x16 soft pastel

Her little joke set me on a new course full of turquoise and golden skies, darkening edges, simple photos from our region of the world. Since that day, I have taken a whole collection of pictures from rural Alabama and love finding inspiration in alternative colors thanks to Hipstamatic. If you are unfamiliar with this camera app, it is a program you can purchase very inexpensively on smart phones that allows you to change combinations of lens and film to get different colors and effects. My favorites are the John S lens and the Bettie XL lens. I love experimenting with it...you never know when you'll get something new and fabulous! It is a great asset to my artwork. Below is another example of a different lens/film combination.