my favorite portrait

I share a birthday with my cousin. This is not the biggest imposition, but every year, when planning birthdays, it does present some logistical problems. The standing rule is, whomever snatches the best weekend first, has claimed it for whatever kind of party he is planning.

This year, my cousin snatched the actual date of our birthday, which meant that I had to attend his celebration on our shared birthday.

this particular family function turned out, as these usually do, kind of boring, but nice. By far the most interesting thing that happened was when my aunt found some pictures from my mothers childhood.

This is how I found out that my mother used to look like the lead singer of “the verve” and that is how I found the picture above.

What you see above is a picture of my, now dead, aunt when she was little. I can’t say how old she is in this picture, but I can say that it is adorable.

I decided to draw this picture to capture a part of my aunt that I never knew, but wish I had. She looks like she might have been a fun child.

Myself at 14

The aunt that I drew recently (see the post called “commission” for that drawing) was an artist. She was a sculpturist who specialized in portraits.
When my brother, the oldest kid on my mothers side, turned 14 and had his confirmation his gift from my aunt was a portrait of himself in plaster.
This became a tradition in the family, so when every member of my generation would turn 14 they would be immortalised in plaster.
My aunt died only a couple of months after completing her final portrait in the series, which was of her youngest son.
My portrait was finished in the winter of 1999 and now has permanent resident with my parents, where I can draw it, if the urge strikes me.