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Thursday
May312007
A Family Portrait by the YaYa Sister
May 31, 2007
(I apologize ahead of time for the quality of the photos. I cannot figure out my mom's camera for the life of me.)
YaYa has always been an artist. She has drawn beautiful pictures for as long as I can remember, unlike Kid A, who has mostly scorned drawing. The other day a few of us sat around the table and she drew portraits of us.Â
[Anatomy of a YaYa portrait: It's pretty self-explanatory, really, the long straight line in the middle is a mouth. The dots above are eyes, the lines at the sides are arms. The only thing you might not see right away is that the dot underneath is a chin.]
First off, we have a portrait of YaYa's brothers.
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I'm reasonably sure that the one on the bottom of the page is the Leaf Baby, and the one above, with the one leg, is Kid A. Why does Kid A look the way he does? Revenge, maybe? We may never know.
Next, we have a lovely picture of Aunt Becca. Notice that both of Aunt Becca's feet are securely set on the ground. YaYa seems to be quite perceptive. When she handed the picture to her Auntie, she said, "You're dancing."Â
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And so she is. Aunt Becca has a lovely egg shape, and her arms are wonderful and symmetrical. What a beauty.
Next, YaYa drew her Uncle Matty.
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She said, "You're dancing too." And so he is. We weren't quite sure what the horizontal-ish lines were in Uncle Matty's hair, but I would guess that they were either his sunglasses or his eyebrows. One of the two. Uncle Matty's chin is well-defined and his dance is a little wilder, he is dipping quite crazily. He also appears to be a little perplexed.
Next comes Grandma, with a very, very well-defined chin.
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I can vouch for the fact that Grandma does not actually have a goatee. I'm serious. She really doesn't, She has a nice, bare chin. I particularly like the fact that Grandma seems to be itching to hop onto Uncle Matty and Aunt Becca's dance floor, but she is only allowing her right leg to do a little dancing. A little right-leg jiggle. And she's getting some groove on with her arms, too, it seems. Grandma has such lovely long legs.
One of my favorites is YaYa's self-portrait. I don't think she's dancing, really, she looks like she's flying. She looks like she'll land softly.
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And then, of course, there's me. The Mama. Notice my gorgeously long tresses! Clearly YaYa was giving me a compliment when she drew my hair.Â
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I'm not too sure about those legs, though. And what is going on with my left eye?
Â
YaYa has always been an artist. She has drawn beautiful pictures for as long as I can remember, unlike Kid A, who has mostly scorned drawing. The other day a few of us sat around the table and she drew portraits of us.Â
[Anatomy of a YaYa portrait: It's pretty self-explanatory, really, the long straight line in the middle is a mouth. The dots above are eyes, the lines at the sides are arms. The only thing you might not see right away is that the dot underneath is a chin.]
First off, we have a portrait of YaYa's brothers.
Â
Â
I'm reasonably sure that the one on the bottom of the page is the Leaf Baby, and the one above, with the one leg, is Kid A. Why does Kid A look the way he does? Revenge, maybe? We may never know.
Next, we have a lovely picture of Aunt Becca. Notice that both of Aunt Becca's feet are securely set on the ground. YaYa seems to be quite perceptive. When she handed the picture to her Auntie, she said, "You're dancing."Â
Â
Â
And so she is. Aunt Becca has a lovely egg shape, and her arms are wonderful and symmetrical. What a beauty.
Next, YaYa drew her Uncle Matty.
Â
Â
Â
She said, "You're dancing too." And so he is. We weren't quite sure what the horizontal-ish lines were in Uncle Matty's hair, but I would guess that they were either his sunglasses or his eyebrows. One of the two. Uncle Matty's chin is well-defined and his dance is a little wilder, he is dipping quite crazily. He also appears to be a little perplexed.
Next comes Grandma, with a very, very well-defined chin.
Â
Â
I can vouch for the fact that Grandma does not actually have a goatee. I'm serious. She really doesn't, She has a nice, bare chin. I particularly like the fact that Grandma seems to be itching to hop onto Uncle Matty and Aunt Becca's dance floor, but she is only allowing her right leg to do a little dancing. A little right-leg jiggle. And she's getting some groove on with her arms, too, it seems. Grandma has such lovely long legs.
One of my favorites is YaYa's self-portrait. I don't think she's dancing, really, she looks like she's flying. She looks like she'll land softly.
Â
Â
And then, of course, there's me. The Mama. Notice my gorgeously long tresses! Clearly YaYa was giving me a compliment when she drew my hair.Â
Â
Â
I'm not too sure about those legs, though. And what is going on with my left eye?
Â
Reader Comments (11)
Wonderful art commentary! Thanks for sharing these works.
Such beautiful pictures by YaYa! I have to admit that I scrolled down to look at them all before reading the wise Journeymama interpretations and was so shocked later on to learn of the "chins". I assumed the dots below the mouths of her subjects were all bellybuttons!
Thanks for making me smile so early in the morning.
You're winking of course. Think about it.
Ohhh, and I think Kid A has 2 legs, but it is hidden because he is sideways. See how his head is turned.
I was laughing OUT LOUD with this post! Oh the love. I had such fun. Thank you for sharing her work.
oh my God, you are so funny!! You made me laugh SO hard!! thanks.
I just want you to know you are such an amazing writer - even better than Anne Lamott. I put your blog as a link on my blog, even though mine's about nutrition. I want other people to be able to enjoy your thoughts and reflections too.
Blessings,
Bronwyn (Joy's friend)
Great work!
You all have such a strong family resemblance! Like the others, it was great to start the day with a laugh. I'm so happy for you that you have this time at 'home.' Summer Arts is today & tomorrow--wish you were here so we could go together!
hi..i read your comment over at superhero (isn't she, though?) and loved what you wrote. being a brand new mom of twins is lovely and loopy all at the same time, identity is so interesting to contemplate from right here, right now. i lurve your family portraits and the pix of your children. i'll visit again. smiles.
hi
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good luck