Portraits from the Past : :

I am going WAY back with this one ---Can you guess who this is? Well, long before I was a wife, a mother, a knitter, a toy maker, a sewer...I was a drawer. I loved drawing and always thought that I would be an illustrator of sorts when I grew up. While I was in high school I worked on a comic book and when I was 16-17, I started a little portrait business. It all happened by accident when I drew this portrait of Jewel. It was the late 90's, her Pieces of You album was super popular, and I suppose I was moved to draw her after listening to Who Will Save Your Soul, You Were Meant for Me, and Foolish Games on repeat. : ) I did a few others for school art assignments and several of my high school teachers kindly hired me to do portraits for them, word spread a little, and even after I moved away for a while, I continued to do commissioned portraits.I've always loved the look of pencil portraits and really enjoyed doing them. I worked to make my portraits capture all the features, shading, personality and light of a black and white photo, but to me, they are timeless and capture something different and more special than a photograph.... I am really missing it lately. I did my last portrait about 7 years ago, when Kaiden was just a baby. All I have to remember how much I loved doing them, are these two that I did in high school --- This one of Jewel, who I don't listen to anymore and Ani DiFranco, who I listen to often, but never finished. It kind of makes me sad.
And in some ways, embarrassed, but I am sharing here because I plan on starting up again and undoubtedly will be sharing those efforts here, as well. This post will be the beginning of a new time of portrait making for me. I already decided the first new portrait I want to start is going to be in honor of my friend Leslie, for her family and church. And of course I have big plans for the three beautiful subjects that I have now, that I didn't have way back when.

Thanks for visiting --- Maureen