Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Polka Dot Painting!

New York seems to have jumped directly from winter to summer--I hear it will be in the 80s today! So I'm hoping to start taking my tripod outside the apartment for occasional photo shoots.

But first, a word about that painting you've seen bits of in so many of my garment photos! (And yes, yes, I know it's best to show clothes against a plainer backdrop--but that is currently the only spot in my apartment with (a) natural light and (b) enough room to get full-length shots.) Here it is in full:

Wedding Painting by Cindy Procious

The painting was a wedding gift from my friend Cindy Procious, an amazing portrait painter, cartoonist and caricaturist now based out of Tennessee. She conspired before our September 2007 wedding with photographer extraordinaire Márta Fodor (who has been my BFF since we were 11 and was "Woman of Honor" at my wedding). Márta had taken this photo of us as part of a fun series of publicity shots for our cartoon collection book tour:

Mikhaela & Masheka laughing

Márta is also an expert in framing artwork, so she had it framed for us in a beautiful dark wood with hand-cut joints.

Awesomest wedding present ever, huh? And now you know the real source--I didn't want you to give me credit for it, as I got some messages assuming I did it myself!

My style tends to be much more cartoony--I usually draw directly into the computer with a Wacom digital tablet. The last time I actually touched real paint and paintbrush was in 2008 when Masheka and I collaborated on a gigantic mural (with help from my mother, brother and sister-in-law) for the Detroit Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts. Here are some shots of the initial painting process, before we added the shadows and detailing:

Mikhaela painting Oscar Peterson

Masheka painting Will Rogers

But... Masheka and I are both terrified of heights. Being up on the scaffold actually made me cry... so my mother had to get up there and paint the very top for us. (Is there nothing she can't do?!) And thus ended any thoughts of further freelance mural painting.

And with that, back to our regularly scheduled sewing blogging...

2 comments:

  1. I love how the picture also reflects how you look right now with that circle transposed over your stomach. How eerie that that should be placed right there where it looks like Masheka is touching your baby bump?

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  2. Hi there....I know this is probably the oddest comment you will ever receive. BUT...my boss was searching "full length portrait paintings" on google images and found the above polka dot painting. And sent it to me. BC we look so much alike. I seriously keep staring at that painting as it's freaking me out a little. I thought it was me for a moment. (I tend to play with my hair length and color a lot but it's currently that length and a reddish brown)
    And then I found your site...and am loving everything about it. You are into a lot of the same stuff as I am. SO, you have a new fan. Can't wait to explore your site.

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I'd love to hear from you! But no ads please--I'll just have to delete them.

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