PORTRAITS. sand paintings
It seems that all the portraits I have done are in the medium “sand”. So here it is…
My first attempt at a family portrait. Done in 2006, I painted Hans and his wife, then, and Jaden, the baby. It is a little crud, simple details, which at the time, was really hard for me to do. All my fingers were wrapped in tape. They became quickly sore from using the xacto knife for so long. But the resemblance is there, and I was happy with the result.
“KEANU” “AHINAVAI”
They are my brother Jean and his wife Maguie’s children. They are such nice kids. When my husband and I went to Tahiti for a visit, they were with us a lot, adding their special charm to everything we did.
Ahinavai used to follow Jim everywhere and talk to him non stop…in french… Jim asked me ” doesn’t she know that I dont speak french? She talks to me all the time!”. She knew. But to her, tonton Jim was the best, he always listened to her and let her talk all she wanted… They constantly asked “how do you say…a word… in english” and try to use it. So it is no wonder that I did a painting of them. My memories of the things we did in Tahiti have them in it. I cannot separate them.
Year 2005, Ahinavai was so young. Her wide, infectuous smile never dimned.
We went to Moorea, stayed at the beach and the 3 musketeers,Kahealani, Ahinavai, and Keanu, cousins, together, happy with the simplest intertainment, like looking for shells, the ones that have a Bernard l’Ermite or crab, in them, or quietly at sunset keeping busy looking for things, talking and laughing, sharing stories and just spending time together.
xoxoxoxo
We go camping here in tents, there, we camp in the bungalows, near the white sand beach of Moorea, playing games and even with the help to their uncle, tonton Moe, papa for Kahea, feed the peacoks. Early the morning, we sometimes would find one sleeping on the roof of one of the bungalow. I did not know they could fly!
On the fast ferry, between Tahiti and Moorea,the 5 cousins are keeping each other company. Always doing something cool, on our way to the lagoonarium by way of canoe, we are having fun. And it would not be as much fun without the kids with us.
Jean is showing his kids and every one else things found on the reef. Wonder what kind of game Ahinavai and her cousins intertained themselves with? Ever heard of horse race? So here they are haveing shell race. They blow in each of the shells they have collected and when the little crab comes out to peak, they put them down in a row on the table and…race…! (No TV, no video game, no whining).
A walk on a reef. The kids were most comfortable walking on the corals covered with algae in their flip-flops with their dad finding all kind of things to see and touch. A few feet later we found some sharks! To the delight of Keanuwhowanted to investigate closer and Jim and I who were trying to stay away as much as we could, keeping a smile on our face and keeping secret the fact that we were having heart palpitation, we watched those black tip baby sharks swimming in circles in water that was no deeper than our knees. Okay, that was cool. The ripples with the spots on the bottom of the photo on the right are the sharks. We can hardly see them, but they were there.
Voila, Keanu et Ahinavai.
“MERE”
This is my sister. I thought that she was just gorgeous.
It was a present for her a few years back.
“MERCEDES”
Mercedes brought me some sand from her pays d’origine, in exchange and also because she is a good friend, armed with camera, pareos and seashells lays and flowers, I took numerous pictures for her and came up with this. I was a pleasure to do.
This was a different painting altogether. I used the picture of my tahitian grand-pa, papa Tane, and Heiva, my brother’s Moe son, with Keanu’s cousin Hiro, who is as nice as the rest of the cousins there, and Keanu. As was barely done with it that a friend from work wanted it and bought it. So I had to do another one or two… for myself.
Et voila! Hanging on my living room wall, “LES QUATRES HOMMES” and “LES QUATRES FEMMES’, reminding me of my family. The men are comprised of my brother, his son and his nephew and the women are my two daughters Vaite and Shantal, a cousin Hinatea and my mother when she was young(lower right corner). This made me happy.
“JADEN AND OLIVIA”
JADEN MY GRAND-SON, THE BUDDING ARTIST.
When Olivia was a baby, as soon as she was able to grab things, she grabbed Buddy, our dog
her best pal, she thought, but really, she was a terror for my little dog. She pulled on him, tugged, hugged
till he could not breath. He would run away from her as fast as he could, but….yet, was always close to her looking for
her handout. If you saw Olivia, Buddy was nearby also. Basically, it is love.
The colors are so bright, Jaden’s red T with his white hat, (papa’s hat from the NONI factory in Tahiti) and Olivia with her yellow and orange Tahitian outfit that Maguie made for Ahinavai that was passed on to my grand-daughter. I just love it They let me take pictures of them for awhile then, after 15-20 minutes, they started peeling off their clothes.
A day at Fort Dessoto beach, Jaden’s attempt at body surfing started with “grand-ma I dont want to ride the surf'” then… he loved it.
absolutely stunning!
After chosing the picture, I trace it on a tracing paper and transfer it to the polyphane paper.
The painting is done
“JADEN”
“VAITE”
Vaite’s portrait was done before Jaden’s. I used an other technique.
“SHANTAL”
I always liked her painting even though she thought
that I picked a picture that showed too much of how much she was tired.
Yet, when I see it, I see a woman of courage and great strength. I see a beautiful woman.
I wouldn’t do it any other way. That painting fits her perfectly.
This is a sand painting that I made from a
picture taken from “The Good Shepherd” by Simon Dewey.
This painting took me 4 to 6 months to complete. I had to be in
a peaceful, a good mood, in order to be able to get the face just right.
Otherwise, I was unable to get the right tones of sands, the right feel,
unable to go forward.