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These works are from a series of small watercolors of a child at play. In creating this series I was interested in three things. First was to convery the exuberance and sense of freedom which children find in play. As part of recreating these feelings from my own childhood experiences, I also wanted to express the unique physical sensations which each different type of play produces. Secondly, I was challenged by the idea of producing the works from a child's artistic perspective by using expressive brush work and minimal detail. Finally, I wanted to produce strong images of a young, active girl as a counterweight to the images of passive females found in so many fine art and popular images. I vividly recall sitting down to read my daughter a popular children's book which illustrates words only to find that all the active words like "jump" and "throw" were portrayed by male figures and the words associated with sedentary activities were all depicted by female figures. There is still a conscious need to present a more balanced and realistic picture of growing up female. |
