Children’s Dress Portraits
I grow less and less sentimental about objects as time goes by, but anything related to my kids is a slightly different story. Clothes, toys, books, drawings, little things they made instead of doing their homework, I find it hard to let go.
This is why a child’s Dress Portrait can be so helpful as well as being a beautiful and individual piece of Art for you or your child to keep.
I always enjoyed drawing my children’s toys, I will find some of those drawings for you in a different post. Making the portraits for my kids was also a lovely way to get into conversation with them about what was going on for them in their world at that time. As usual, and interestingly, some of the drawings in the Portraits become more meaningful as time goes on. As in the my nephew’s portrait, who now lives beside the sea and goes crab fishing in the afternoons outside his house. These crabs visited his Portrait across time. Because time really isn’t linear.
This is why a Dress Portrait should not be seen as a sentimental thing. It is not a piece of time frozen. It is, and our past is, maybe more like a landscape, which moves and changes as the clouds pass by above, as the weather changes and the seasons. It is a beautiful view which maintains it’s core nature but always gives you different glimpses of something changing and yet true.
Because we change, our children change, life changes and yet from a very great distance nothing does.
Usually I make a child’s Dress Portrait in the same way as I do an adult‘s, however I guide the parents in doing a treasure hunt with the child for their favourite things. This is not difficult for most children.
Sometimes I can facilitate the child to do their own drawings as in the three images below. In this case I photographed their favourite baby toy or blanket, hugely sentimental items for all those involved. Then the children drew a cast of characters from their lives and toy collections and stuck them with glue onto the printed photo.
The beautiful colours and the typically quirky drawings are something which will add to any room I think, and even when these toys are put away or enshrined or passed on Captain Teddy will always ride the rainbow in his Artwork!
Subh Milis by Séamus Ó’Néill
We learned this poem in school in Irish.
Bhí subh mhilis
Ar bhaschrann an dorais
Ach mhuch mé an corraí
Ionam a d'éirigh,
Mar smaoinigh mé ar an lá
Nuair a bheas an bhaschrann glan,
Agus an lámh bheag
Ar iarraidh.
Translation
There was jam
On the doorhandle
But I suppressed the anger
That arose in me,
Because I thought of the day
when the doorhandle would be clean
And the little hand
Gone.
Ok, this always makes me well up, but, and, if there is anything which helps navigate the passage of time for a human, it is Art.
Some inspiration for you if you are thinking about your own favourite things 🤓
From The Sound Of Music
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things
When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things
When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad
When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad
