Started this portrait on Saturday - this is my father's mother, Mary Elizabeth Simmons. I am Martha Elizabeth, and until I was twenty one, we had the same last name, and the same initials. (What a MES! :^)
She died when I was five years old, so I have just a few memories of this grandmother. My father always said that I resembled her. Yup. The same face shape, the same nose! I have to keep working this - I've made her face too long and I've made her look more severe than she is - she has a very soft and gentle expression. I will find her as I push that charcoal around!
I want to thank those of you who gave me feedback for my *ghost* project! And I want to share this bit of synchronicity:
Directly after I corresponded with my cousin Jon about our collaboration and about my plan to print my portraits on sheer fabric and make them hang like ghosts, I responded to a friend's inquiry on Facebook about the upcoming Ebune Parade in Portland. She had asked me if I'd ever been in the parade, and I told her yes, that I had participated in 2005, when one of my MECA professors, Alex Kahn, was in charge. I sent her a link to Alex and his partner Sophia Micheles's website, knowing that she would love to see their work. They do pageant puppetry, and my friend does paintings of puppets. While finding that link for her, I happened to notice that Alex and Sophia had a video on Youtube, and curious, I clicked to view...
Ghosts with portrait faces!!!
Wow, I just love the floating chairs, tea cups, silverware, etc!
Pure Magic.
Alex and Sophia now travel the globe working with communities to create wondrous puppets and pageants!
