The Graduate

 

"The Graduate"

20" x 20" Torn Paper on Canvas

(c) Mary Paquet

 

 

I love using my grandchildren as my subjects. Jamie graduated from Danville High School in Vermont as valedictorian of her class this past June. We celebrated with a barbecue on a beautiful June Vermont day. Friend James Farinha took some photos and I just loved this one with the bright green glasses and her mortar board. James gave me blanket permission to use any photo of the teenagers for my art.

 

(c) James Farinha

 

I followed the same process I described in an earlier post. My darks would be purple and green would be the accent color. It's quite fascinating and sometimes very frustrating to do. I am constantly having a dialogue with the painting and my magazine papers. I wove into the painting bits and pieces of Jamie's life. You will find the following photos if you look closely:

• Jamie riding her horse Sky in January snows. She found this horse advertised on the hardware store bulletin board and trained the two-and-half year-old when she herself was barely a teen. Sky is ridden in horse shows by both sisters and achieved Grand Champion this year.
• Jamie playing soccer for her high school; she now is on the Smith College team
• Jamie teaching soccer to young boys in Senegal, Africa, while working with a volunteer group in 2011 (girls don't play soccer in Senegal)
• Jamie teaching English to small children in French-speaking Senegal (she choose this country so she could practice her French)
• A piece of Jamie's award-winning art - she paints in multiple mediums, sculpts, and does collage

There is a hint of her love of bicycles with the woman in a yellow bicycle jersey. I had to give up on a lovely chocolate bicycle on her shirt because it lacked color harmony. I also wove in the words "Love," "Danville High," "Smith," and "Senegal."

I think it's time to go back to traditional painting as I am beginning to feel rusty.I will do more collage in the future and have ordered a yearly subscription to a couple fashion magazines to use as paint.

An addendum:
I decided I needed to modify some of the straight edges for interest, so you will see changes here -- the shoulder line is broken and I added the word Ole because I wanted to enter the piece in the Cafe Ole show. That helped fit into the theme.

"Ole'"