Creating Meaningful StoriesTelling stories, writing stories, painting, talking, thinking, creating - they are one in the same.
UninhibitedHam, 2015This started as Liliana wanting to paint fish and all of its friends in the ocean. Midway through, she decided that what she had painted looked more like barnyard animals including a "Mommy Pig", hence the name.
Liliana insisted that the paintbrush stay where it was and be part of the final product. When she was finished, she noted that the paintbrush was "her name" and that it must be included on that painting. Dancing Wind, Angry Wind, 2016Walking around town is essential to our lives. Things that I don't notice, she does. And things I notice, she doesn't have reference for. It's a nice back and forth sometimes.
While walking down a street in our neighborhood, I was humming the theme to Mr. Roger's Neighborhood (it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...) and Liliana responded, "It IS beautiful. The wind is making the tree leaves dance! And my hair!" She took this and told the story through colors. It's the wind dancing, and the wind angry, creating the storm. I am from Brooklyn, 2016Liliana loves the sunset. We've sat more than few times and watched the sun set over New York Harbor. We sit on a bench and wave to Daddy (who is at work, but we can see his office building from the Brooklyn Promenade).
She and I frequently debate the nature of colors - I will call something pink and she'll want to include peach and yellow in the conversation too. She's not usually wrong. If you look closely in this painting, you just might be able to make out the Statue of Liberty. She was painting this, while observing a brilliant sunset over New York Harbor. She was the first to spot the brilliance of color peeking through buildings in midtown, and used that as her inspiration in the painting. If I saw the sunset with as many colors as she does, it would be my favorite thing in the world too. Galaxy, 2016One of our favorite moments in our day is when we enjoy poetry, together. We find poetry when we ride the subway and we read it together.
We've seen this poem a lot lately. Here
Gary Snyder In the dark (The new moon long set) A soft grumble in the breeze Is the sound of a jet so high It's already long gone by Some planet Rising From the east shines Through the trees It's been years since I thought, Why are we here? This, coupled with our camping trip to see the Perseid Metor shower decided it. Liliana wanted to paint galaxies to show how big and little we are, what is and what could be.
This is my Art and Deconstructed Palette, 2016Liliana likes using a palette. She has a simple palette that she sometimes mixes paint on. The first time I attempted to clean the palette after painting, she exclaimed, "DON'T! That is my art." The process is as important for this little girl as the product - maybe more so sometimes. In any case, I did not wash the palette. We simply let it dry.
She continued to use that same palette for her painting. After more than a few paintings and layers of paint, we did as usual, and let the palette dry. Only one day, she pulled it down from the window sill and started peeling all of the paint off of the palette. When she was finished peeling it all away, she picked up a small canvas board, painted it and positioned all of the peeled off pieces from the palette onto it. Only, she put the pieces she peeled upside down and we could see the layers of paint from all of her different paintings, right there in her dried palette pieces. Anemonie 1, 2016In this painting, you may notice a family of fish swimming around. Liliana loves the relationship of clownfish and their anemones.
She started painting lines for the anemone, then added fish and then wanted to spray the paint to get her desired effect (of them living in water). She left part of the canvas unfinished on purpose. I find the unfinished canvas part interesting because she consistently points out when Monet does NOT finish his edges on his canvases (see Agapanthus painting). And she means, he should go back and finish those parts. Egg, 2016In this painting, Liliana focused on the the movement. You'll notice on the left-hand side of this painting, she uses white mixed with yellow but does not fully mix the colors in. This is because she wanted you to see the "egg moving".
Unnamed, 2016This painting was inspired by Magritte's The False Mirror. Liliana is very interested in exploring the different tools that are options for her. She also worked really hard to gather her colors on this painting - layering and texturizing her colors.
Flamingo, 2016Liliana has been obsessed with flamingoes ever since she found out they pee on themselves to cool off. It was only a matter of time before one made it into the subject of her paintings!
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