My Daughter Cleaned Out Her Closet

Alethea cleaned out her closet and found this painting I did of her when she was little. She never liked the painting and put it in her closet about 15 years ago.

It was done back in the 1980s when antiquing surfaces was popular and I was inspired by a public TV program called Painting With Elke starring Elke Sommer. Elke demonstrated blocking in the painting, outlining the shapes with a Sharpie, and covering the dry painting with black watercolor. You take a damp cloth and remove the excess watercolor leaving black shaded areas.

I only had craft paint and discovered that craft acrylics don't release the watercolor overlay as effortlessly as Elke's tube acrylic paint. My kids liked to paint and I was concerned about the chemicals in artist's paints so I only had nontoxic paint in the house.

The painting has special meaning for me since Alethea loved to be tossed in the air, she adored flying kites, and this was her favorite outfit.