Wanderings: September 2010

I used to think that drawing people's faces was the easiest thing to do. That was when I was still in grade school and most of my classroom doodles were of girl faces. That's not the case now unfortunately. I believe that the best watercolor painting I did was of a child's face basked in sunlight. I did it back when I was in college, during one of those hot summer breaks when I had nothing else to do and glad that I could get away from studying numbers for a while. I then gave it to my college boyfriend. Now, I wish I could have it back, as I have quite fond memories of it and that memory serves to inspire and remind me still that it is entirely possible that I could do a nice full watercolor painting of people. It took me two months to make it. I remember waking up everyday and greeting it in the morning before I start and lovingly gaze at it before I fall asleep. By the end of the two months, I felt like she was my "child". That's the thing with drawing or painting, because of the time we spend on it, delicately placing each line and color on a blank page, it sinks in deeper into our subcosncious so that when we see or imagine it later, it brings out a lot of feelings and memories of the time when we were making it.

I hope to go back to painting people and be really good at it. Below is a quick watercolor sketch of a face I did the other day. Unlike that two month portrait I made in college, this one was made in under an hour. That's one thing I like about watercolors, one can do quick colored sketches with it which is ideal for moms of four year olds. I think I'd prefer to have it more abstract or impressionistic next time. Like maybe just some blotches of color here and there to give an impression of a face or person. The background color is permanent rose which is one of my favorites. I got my inspiration on this from Maira Kalman's children's book illustrations. (You could type her name in google and see the many images of her illustrations that come up. ) I find Maira's illustrations playful, colorful and free flowing, which I like very much. I enjoy her children's books (e.g. Chicken Soup, Boots, Grand Central and Fireboat) much more than her "adult" books (Principles of Uncertainty), mainly because I could understand the point of the stories much better!