A portrait of the legendary Nina Simone

Mixed medium 11" x 14"

Nina Simone recorded the song, "Feeling Good" for her 1965 album, I Put a Spell on You.

 

Contact info

Portrait Statement

Artist Statement

Bio

Daddy's Little Girl

Acrylics on canvas board 11” x 14”

Daddy's little girl

Acrylics on canvas board 11” x 14”

Many years ago, my family found this photograph of my stepfather and his daughter. We thought it would be a great surprise to have the photo restored and to present it as a gift to her. I was so excited about this idea that I told her one day I have a surprise for you. My original idea was to try different photo restoration places, but it was either too expensive or they couldn’t piece the photo together because of the damage. It was equally expensive to attempt to do it on my own computer, so I kept the picture protected over the years. 

One day the thought hit me, try your own photo restoration through painting. It wouldn’t be the first time I thought. I did a painting a few years back of me surrounded by my cousins and my grandfather from a damaged photo. This project was a fun, but a tedious challenge!

The baby photo was so damaged that I had to re-create the structure of her face. I see why the photo restoration places didn’t want to deal with it. The lessons from anatomy class finally paid off! 

It was a wonderful picture of a celebration of Angie’s first birthday. Because it was a strong flash was used, most of the details disappeared. I was curious about what was on top of the cake. Using a magnifying glass I discovered that it was ballerina figurines dancing around. This was really precious and important to capture.

The portrait titled, “Daddy‘s little girl”, was presented at Grandpuba’s (my step father’s nickname) 70th birthday celebration. They were both surprised. It’s sparked memories  of a wonderful time and started a conversation about her first birthday celebration. The look of joy on their faces was priceless.

Portraits like this one, are special and unique. You’re basically getting a damaged photo, and restoring its original image into a painting. Memories are treasured through photos. I’m hoping that memories can be treasured through paintings. I can’t express how significant and valuable milestone memories are. But if it could be saved to a painting, that would be great.

The Flower Girl

16" x 20" acrylics on canvas board

The Flower Girl

Hi, my name is Jolly. And I am three years old. And I am a big girl. Everyone tells me that I’m a big girl now so I can do more things. I am smart and a good listener. They picked me as the flower girl!  Now I get to travel with the adults everywhere. I have a white and fluffy dress. I have pretty white shiny shoes, My heels make a click clack click clack sound when I walk, I like that! I have pretty earrings. And I have pretty hair, my mommy did it.

They trust me with the flowers. My job is to carry them for a long time and also walk in a straight line. I do that all the time in school. I’m a big girl now I did a great job. Everyone told me so. I knew I would. I walked carefully and tossed the petals gently to the sides. No throw! I tossed. 

I am special

I am smart

I am a big girl

I am, the flower girl🌸